ArticleTitle stringclasses 109 values | Question stringlengths 4 586 ⌀ | Answer stringlengths 1 926 ⌀ | ArticleFile stringclasses 57 values | EvidencesAvailable stringclasses 120 values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Montreal | How many international airports does Montreal have? | Montreal has two international airports. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | How many international airports does Montreal have? | Montreal has two international airports. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | Who is the Mayor of Montreal? | The mayor is Gérald Tremblay. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | Who is the Mayor of Montreal? | The mayor is Gérald Tremblay. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | What is the name of the largest church in Montreal? | The largest church in Montreal is named Saint Joseph's Oratory. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | What is the name of the largest church in Montreal? | Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Montreal. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | Where was much of Montreal's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century? | The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | Where was much of Montreal's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century? | The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | Does Montreal contain the largest church in Canada? | Yes | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | Does Montreal contain the largest church in Canada? | Yes, Montreal contains the largest church in Canada. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | What is the largest primarily French-speaking city in the western world? | Paris is the largest primarily French-speaking city in the western world. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Montreal | What is the largest primarily French-speaking city in the western world? | The largest primarily French-speaking city in the western world is Paris. | data/set3/a7 | Montreal
Montreal ( ) It is most common to omit the acute accent in English-language usage (Montreal), unless one is using a proper name where the context requires the use of the accent (e.g. Le Journal de Montréal, as compared to the Montreal Gazette), and to keep the accent in French-language usage (Montréal). This is also the approach favoured by The Canadian Press Style Book (ISBN 0-920009-32-8, at p. 234) and The Globe and Mail Style Book (ISBN 0-7710-5685-0, at p. 249). According to The Canadian Style (ISBN 1-55002-276-8, at pp. 263â4), the official style guide of the Government of Canada, the name of the city is to be written with an accent in all government materials. (pronounced in French, in English is the local English pronunciation. Elsewhere it tends to be or . ) is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie ('City of Mary'), the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the city is located, or Mont Réal as it was spelled in Middle French, (Mont Royal in present French).
As of the 2006 census, 1,856,449 people resided in the city, ranking it as the sixth largest city overall across Canada and the United States. The population of the metropolitan area (known as Greater Montreal) was 3,635,571 at 2006 census. As of 2009, Statistics Canada identifies Montreal's Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) (land area 4,259 square kilometres (1,644 sq mi)) as Canada's second most populous with a population of 3,868,831.
The language most spoken at home in the city is French by 57% of the population, followed by English at 19% (as of 2006 census). The official language of Montreal is French as defined by the city's charter. Chapter 1, article 1, Chapter 1, article 1, Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the Western world, after Paris.
Though historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population by Toronto in 1976, but today is an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs. City of Toronto, History Resources
The Montreal Harbour in 1889.
Saint Jacques Street (formerly Saint James Street), in 1910
There is archaeological evidence of various nomadic native people occupying the island of Montreal for at least 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans. The St. Lawrence Iroquoians established the village of Hochelaga at the foot of Mount Royal. The French explorer Jacques Cartier visited Hochelaga on October 2, 1535, claiming the St. Lawrence Valley for France. He estimated the population to be "over a thousand".
Seventy years later, French explorer Samuel de Champlain reported that the St. Lawrence Iroquoians and their settlements had disappeared altogether from the St. Lawrence valley, likely due to inter-tribal wars, European diseases and out-migration. Champlain established in 1611 a fur trading post on the Island of Montreal, on a site initially named La Place Royale, at the confluence of Petite Rivière and St. Lawrence River, where present-day Pointe-à -Callière stands. In 1639, Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière obtained the Seigneurial title to the Island of Montreal in the name of the Société de Notre-Dame de Montréal to establish a Roman Catholic mission for evangelizing natives. Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve was the governor of the colony.
Ville-Marie became a centre for the fur trade and a base for further French exploration in North America. It remained a French colony until 1760, when it was surrendered to Great Britain.
Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832. The opening of the Lachine Canal permitted ships to bypass the unnavigable Lachine Rapids, while the construction of the Victoria Bridge established Montreal as a major railway hub. By 1860, it was the largest city in British North America and the undisputed economic and cultural centre of Canada.
Montreal was the capital of the Province of Canada from 1844 to 1849, but lost its status when a Tory mob burnt down the Parliament building to protest the passage of the Rebellion Losses Bill.
After World War I, the Prohibition movement in the United States turned Montreal into a haven for Americans looking for alcohol. Unemployment remained high in the city, and was exacerbated by the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
During World War II, Mayor Camillien Houde protested against conscription and urged Montrealers to disobey the federal government's registry of all men and women. Ottawa was furious over Houde's insubordination and held him in a prison camp until 1944, when the government was forced to institute conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1944).
By 1951, Montreal's population had surpassed one million people. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing vessels to bypass Montreal: a development that would in time help to spell the end of the city's economic dominance. However, the 1960s saw continued growth, including Expo 67, the construction of Canada's tallest skyscrapers, new expressways and the Montreal Metro system.
The 1970s ushered in a period of wide-ranging social and political changes, stemming in large part from the concerns of the French-Canadian majority about the conservation of their culture and language, given the traditional predominance of the English-Canadian minority in the business arena. The October Crisis and the election of the sovereignist political party, the Parti Québécois, resulted in the departure of many businesses and people from the city. In 1976, Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympics.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Montreal experienced a slower rate of economic growth than many other major Canadian cities. By the late 1990s, however, Montreal's economic climate had improved, as new firms and institutions began to fill the traditional business and financial niches.
Montreal was merged with the 27 surrounding municipalities on the Island of Montreal on January 1, 2002. The merger created a unified city of Montreal which covered the entire island of Montreal. This move proved unpopular, and several former municipalities, totalling 13% of the population of the island, voted to leave the newly unified city in separate referendums in June 2004. The demerger took place on January 1, 2006, leaving 15 municipalities on the island, including Montreal.
Marché Bonsecours in autumn.
Montreal is located in the southwest of the province of Quebec. The city proper covers most of the Island of Montreal at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The port of Montreal lies at one end of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which is the river gateway that stretches from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean. Montreal is defined by its location in between the St. Lawrence river on its south, and by the Rivière des Prairies on its north. The city is named after the most prominent geographical feature on the island, a three-head hill called Mount Royal, topped at 232 m above sea level.
Montreal is at the centre of the Montreal Metropolitan Community, and is bordered by the city of Laval to the north, Longueuil, St. Lambert, Brossard, and other municipalities to the south, Repentigny to the east and the West Island municipalities to the west. The anglophone enclaves of Westmount, Montreal West, Hampstead, Côte Saint-Luc, the Town of Mount Royal and the francophone enclave Montreal East are all entirely surrounded by the city of Montreal.
An aerial view of Montreal in the winter
Montreal lies at the confluence of several climatic regions. Usually, the climate is classified as humid continental or hemiboreal (Köppen climate classification Dfb).
Montreal's summer are warm, and at times hot and humid with average high temperatures of 24 - 26°C (75 - 79°F) and lows of 13 - 15°C (55 - 60°F), but sometimes heat index with warmer than actual temperature. Winter brings very cold, often windy and snowy weather, with average high temperature of -2 to -6°C (20 - 28°F) and lows of -10 to -15°C (6 - 13°F). Because of wind chill, it sometimes feels much colder than actual temperature. Spring and fall are pleasantly mild. Late heat waves as well as "Indian summers" are a common occurrence.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was on January 15, 1957, and the highest temperature was on August 1, 1975.
Annual precipitation is around 979 mm (38.5 inches), including 2.1 m (85 inches) of snowfall, which occurs from late fall to early spring. The city enjoys slightly over 2,000 hours of sunshine annually, with summer being the sunniest, but also slightly the wettest season. www.weather.ca
Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal.
For over a century and a half, Montreal was the industrial and financial centre of Canada. The variety of buildings included factories, elevators, warehouses, mills, and refineries which today provide a legacy of historic and architectural interest, especially in the downtown area and the Old Port area.
Today there are also many historical buildings in Old Montreal still in their original form: Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, Bonsecours Market, and the impressive 19th century headquarters of all major Canadian banks on St. James Street (French: Rue Saint Jacques). Saint Joseph's Oratory, completed in 1934, Ernest Cormier's Art Deco Université de Montréal main building, the landmark Place Ville Marie office tower, the controversial Olympic Stadium and surrounding structures, are but a few notable examples of 20th century architecture.
Pavilions designed for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67, featured a wide range of architectural designs. Though most pavilions were temporary structures, several remaining structures have become Montreal landmarks, including the geodesic dome US Pavilion, now the Montreal Biosphere, as well as Moshe Safdie's striking Habitat 67 apartment complex.
The Montreal Metro is filled with a profusion of public artwork by some of the biggest names in Quebec culture. The design and ornamentation of each station in the Metro system is unique.
In 2006 Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design, only one of three design capitals of the world (with the others being Berlin and Buenos Aires). This distinguished title recognizes Montreal's design community. Since 2005 the city has been home for the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (Icograda); the International Design Alliance (IDA).
Montreal's Underground City (officially RÃSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes (both above and below ground) in and around Downtown Montreal. It is considered the largest underground complex in the world.
Panoramic view of Place d'Armes in Old Montreal.
A view of Saint Catherine Street in Downtown Montreal.
Entrance gates to Montreal's Chinatown on Saint Laurent Boulevard.
The city of Montreal is composed of 19 large boroughs which are further subdivided into smaller neighbourhoods. The boroughs are Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce,Lachine, LaSalle, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Le Sud-Ouest, L'Ãle-BizardâSainte-Geneviève, MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal-Nord, Outremont, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rivière-des-PrairiesâPointe-aux-Trembles, RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie, Saint-Laurent, Saint Leonard, Verdun, Ville-Marie and VillerayâSaint-MichelâParc-Extension.
The borough with the most neighbourhoods is Ville-Marie, which includes the city's downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, Chinatown, the Gay Village, the Latin Quarter, the recently gentrified Quartier international and Cité Multimédia as well as the Quartier des Spectacles which is currently under development. Other neighbourhoods of interest in the borough include the affluent Golden Square Mile neighbourhood at the foot of Mount Royal and the Shaughnessy Village/Quartier Concordia area home to thousands of students at Concordia University. The borough also comprises most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Ãle Notre-Dame.
The Plateau Mont-Royal borough has historically been a working-class francophone area. The largest neighbourhood is the Plateau (not to be confused with the whole borough), which is currently undergoing considerable gentrification, and a 2001 study deemed it as Canada's most creative neighbourhood due to the fact that 8% of its labour force is composed of artists. The neighbourhood of Mile End in the northwestern part of the borough, has historically been a very multicultural area of the city, and features two of Montreal's well-known bagel establishments, St-Viateur Bagel and Fairmount Bagel. The McGill Ghetto is located in the extreme southwestern portion of the borough, its name being derived from the fact that it is home to thousands of McGill University students and faculty members.
The Sud-Ouest borough was home to much of the city's industry during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th century. The borough includes the traditionally working-class Irish neighbourhoods of Griffintown, Goose Village and Pointe-Saint-Charles as well as the low-income neighbourhoods of Saint-Henri and Little Burgundy.
Other notable neighbourhoods in Montreal include the multicultural areas of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Côte-des-Neiges in the Côte-des-NeigesâNotre-Dame-de-Grâce borough, as well as Little Italy in the borough of RosemontâLa Petite-Patrie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, home of Montreal's Olympic Stadium in the borough of MercierâHochelaga-Maisonneuve.
Beaver Lake on Mount Royal.
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (French: Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and was inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Ãtienne Cartier. The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities.
The mountain is also home to two major cemeteries, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges (founded in 1854) and Mount Royal (1852). Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont. Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery is much larger, predominantly French-Canadian and officially Catholic. More than 900,000 people are buried there.
Mount Royal Cemetery contains more than 162,000 graves and is the final resting place for a number of notable Canadians. It includes a veterans section with several soldiers who were awarded the British Empire's highest military honour, the Victoria Cross. In 1901 the Mount Royal Cemetery Company established the first crematorium in Canada.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfilment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4 m-high (103 ft) illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next.
A panorama of Downtown Montreal and part of its metropolitan area taken from the Chalet du Mont Royal at the top of Mount Royal
Pie chart showing Montreal's visible minority composition (data from Canada Census 2006).
According to Statistics Canada, at the 2006 Canadian census the city of Montreal proper had 1,620,693 inhabitants. However, 3,635,571 lived in the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) at the same 2006 census, up from 3,451,027 at the 2001 census (within 2006 CMA boundaries), which means a population growth of +1.05% per year between 2001 and 2006. In the 2006 census, children under 14 years of age (621,695) constituted 17.1%, while inhabitants over 65 years of age (495,685) numbered 13.6% of the total population. People of European ethnicities formed the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal, mostly of French, British, Irish and Italian origins.
Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% of Greater Montreal are members of a visible minority (non-white) group. The most numerous minorities are Blacks (7.2%), Moroccans (2.8%), Latin Americans (2.1%), South Asians (2%), and Chinese (2%).
According to a recently published report by the city of Montreal, the island is expected to number 1,991,200 by 2012, with 3.9 million in the Greater Montreal Area, an increase of 15.8% over 2001. However, in 2009, the Greater Montreal Area is estimated to number 3.86 million people, suggesting the city will hit and surpass 4 million by 2012.
Visible minorities are defined by the Canadian Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginals, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour."
In terms of mother tongue language (first language learned), the 2006 census reported that in the Greater Montreal Area, 66.5% spoke French as a first language, followed by English at 13.2%, while 0.8% spoke both as a first language. The remaining 22.5% of Montreal-area residents are allophones, speaking languages including Italian (3.5%), Arabic (3.1%), Spanish (2.6%), Creole (1.3%), Chinese (1.2%), Greek (1.2%), Portuguese (0.8%), Romanian (0.7%), Vietnamese (0.7%), and Russian (0.5%). In terms of additional languages spoken, a unique feature of Montreal throughout Canada, noted by Statistics Canada, is the working knowledge of both French and English by most of its residents.
The Greater Montreal Area is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic; however, weekly attendance in Quebec is among the lowest in Canada. CBC Article - Church attendance declining in Canada Historically Montreal has been a centre of Catholicism in North America with its numerous seminaries and churches, including the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. Some 84.6% of the total population is Christian, largely Roman Catholic (74.5%), primarily due to descendants of original French settlers, and others of Italian and Irish origins. Protestants which include Anglican, United Church, Lutheran, owing to British and German immigration, and other denominations number 7.0%, with a further 3.0% consisting mostly of Orthodox Christians, fuelled by a large Greek population. There is also a number of Russian Orthodox parishes. Due to the large number of non-European cultures, there is a diversity of non-Christian religions. Islam is the largest non-Christian group, with some 100,185 members, the second-largest concentration of Muslims in Canada, constituting 3%. The Jewish community in Montreal has a population of 92,970. In cities such as Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead, Jewish people constitute the majority, or a substantial part of the population. As recently as 1971 the Jewish community in Greater Montreal was as high as 109,480. Political and economic uncertainties led many to leave Montreal and the province of Quebec.
Montreal's economy is the second largest of all cities in Canada based on GDP Metropolitan Toronto 1st with $209 Billion US in 2005, Metropolitan Montreal 2nd with $120 Billion US also in 2005. and the largest in Quebec. In 2007, Metropolitan Montreal was responsible for $123 Billion of Quebec's $249 Billion USD GDP The city is today an important centre of commerce, finance, industry, technology, culture, world affairs and was once the headquarters for the Montreal Stock Exchange.
Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in the Quartier international de Montréal
Montreal industries include aerospace, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, printed goods, software engineering, telecommunications, textile and apparel manufacturing, tobacco and transportation. The service sector is also strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, higher education, and research and development. In 2002, Montreal ranked as the 4th largest centre in North America in terms of aerospace jobs.
The Port of Montreal is the largest inland port in the world handling 26 million tonnes of cargo annually. As one of the most important ports in Canada, it remains a trans-shipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery, and consumer goods. For this reason, Montreal is the railway hub of Canada and has always been an extremely important rail city; it is home to the headquarters of the Canadian National Railway, and was home to the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway until 1995.
The headquarter of the Canadian Space Agency is located in Longueuil, southeast of Montreal. Montreal also hosts the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, a United Nations body); the World Anti-Doping Agency (an Olympic body); the International Air Transport Association (IATA), IATA Operational Safety Audit and the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC), as well as some 60 other international organizations in various fields.
The Montreal World Trade Centre west entrance on Victoria Square.
Montreal is also a centre of film and television production. The headquarter of Alliance Films and five studios of the Academy Award-winning documentary producer National Film Board of Canada are in the city, as well as the head offices of Telefilm Canada, the national feature-length film and television funding agency and Télévision de Radio-Canada. Given its eclectic architecture and broad availability of film services and crew members, Montreal is a popular filming location for feature-length films, and sometimes stands in for European locations. The city is also home to many recognized cultural, film and music festivals (Just For Laughs, Just For Laughs Gags, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and others), which contribute significantly to its economy. It is also home to one of the world's largest cultural enterprises, the Cirque du Soleil.
The video game industry is also booming in Montreal since 1997, coinciding with the opening of Ubisoft Montreal. Recently, the city has attracted world leading game developers and publishers studios such as Ubisoft, EA, Eidos Interactive, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, mainly because of the quality of local specialized labor.
Montreal also plays an important role in the finance industry. The official legal corporate head offices of Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada, two of the five biggest banks in Canada, are still in Montreal with their operational corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest bank in Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, Desjardins Group, the largest regional bank in Quebec, are also headquartered in Montreal.
Several companies are headquartered in Greater Montreal Area including Rio Tinto Alcan, Desjardins Group, Bombardier Inc., Canadian National Railway, CGI Group, Air Canada, " Investors Contacts." Air Canada. Retrieved on May 18, 2009. Air Transat, " Contact Us." Air Transat. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. CAE, Saputo, Cirque du Soleil, Quebecor, Ultramar, Jean Coutu Group, Jean Coutu Pharmacy, health specialists and beauty advices - Canada Uniprix, Contact us! - Uniprix Proxim, ://www.groupeproxim.ca/proxim/client/en/Commentaires/Commentaires.asp Domtar, Power Corporation, Bell Canada. " Contact Us." Bell Canada. Retrieved on August 24, 2009. Standard Life, Hydro-Québec, AbitibiBowater, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Molson, /ref> Tembec, Alimentation Couche-Tard, SNC-Lavalin, MEGA Brands, Aeroplan, Agropur, Metro Inc., Astral Media, Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Laurentian Bank of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Transat A.T., " Contact Us." Transat A.T. Retrieved on May 20, 2009. VIA Rail, and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.
Greater Montreal had a GDP of $120 billion in 2005, placing it 39th in the world. It is expected to grow to almost $126 billion in 2008 and $140 billion by 2012.
The Montreal Oil Refining Center is the largest refining center in Canada with companies like Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical, Coastal Petrochemical, Interquisa (Cepsa) Petrochemical, Nova Chemicals and more.
Place des Arts.
Montreal was referred to as "Canada's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine. The city is Canada's centre for French language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American city, Montreal shares many cultural characteristics with the rest of the continent. It has a tradition of producing both jazz and rock music. The city has also produced much talent in the fields of visual arts, theatre, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, particularly festivals. The city's largest festival is the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which is the largest in the world of its kind. Other popular festivals include the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, the Francofolies, Nuits d'Afrique and the Montreal Fireworks Festival.
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des Arts is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large square in the eastern portion of downtown. Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal and the cityâs chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The unique choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil.
Saint Joseph's Oratory is the largest church in Canada.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilicas: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory. The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the second largest copper dome in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The Montreal Canadiens versus the Boston Bruins.
The most popular sport in Montreal is ice hockey. The city's professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, are one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League (NHL), and boast an NHL-record 24 Stanley Cup championships. The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are the only other team in North American sports to have more championship titles, with 27 World Series titles, but the Canadiens have not won the Stanley Cup since 1993.
Montreal also has a storied baseball history. The city was the home of the minor-league Montreal Royals of the International League until 1960. In 1946, Jackie Robinson broke the baseball colour barrier with the Royals in an emotionally difficult year; Robinson was forever grateful for the local fans' fervent support. Major League Baseball came to town in the form of the Montreal Expos in 1969. They played their games at Jarry Park until moving into Olympic Stadium in 1977. After 37 years in Montreal, the team relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005 and re-branded themselves as the Washington Nationals.
Olympic Stadium, home of the former Montreal Expos
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) draw packed crowds at the small but picturesque Molson Stadium on the campus of McGill University for their regular-season games. Late season and playoff games are played at the much larger, enclosed Olympic Stadium, which also played host to the 2008 Grey Cup. The McGill Redmen, Concordia Stingers, and Université de Montréal Carabins play in the CIS university football league.
The Montreal Impact are the city's USL First Division soccer team. They play at a soccer-specific stadium called Saputo Stadium. The Montreal games of the FIFA 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup were held at Olympic Stadium.
Montreal is the site of a high-profile auto racing event each year: the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One (F1) racing. This race takes place on the famous Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Ãle Notre-Dame. In 2009, the race was dropped from the Formula One calendar, to the chagrin of some fans, but the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2010. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also hosted a round of the Champ Car World Series from 2002-2007, and currently is home to the NAPA Auto Parts 200, a NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
Uniprix Stadium, built in 1993 on the former site of Jarry Park, is used for the Rogers Cup men's and women's tennis tournaments. The men's tournament is a Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour, and the women's tournament is a Premier tournament on the WTA Tour. The men's and women's tournaments alternate between Montreal and Toronto every year.
Montreal was the host of the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium alone cost $1.5 billion, with interest that figure ballooned to nearly $3 billion, and was only paid off in December 2006. Montreal also hosted the first ever World Outgames in the summer of 2006, attracting over 16,000 participants engaged in 35 sporting activities.
Montreal is well served by a variety of media, including several English and French language television stations, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines. There are four over-the-air English-language television stations: CBC Television, CTV, Global and E! which also airs multicultural programming. There are also five over-the-air French-language television stations: Radio-Canada, TVA, TQS, Télé-Québec, and Canal Savoir.
Montreal has four daily newspapers, the English-language Montreal Gazette and the French-language La Presse, Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir. There are also two free French dailies, Métro and 24 Heures. Montreal also has numerous weekly tabloids and community newspapers serving various neighbourhoods, ethnic groups and schools.
The name Montreal was also used in the Montreal Screwjob that was a controversy in the WWF (now WWE) featuring Bret Hart defending his title and the presence of Vince McMahon at the 1997 Survivor Series that was held in Montreal.
The Urban Agglomeration of Montreal
Montreal City Hall.
The head of the city government in Montreal is the mayor, who is first among equals in the City Council. The mayor is Gérald Tremblay, who is a member of the Union des citoyens et des citoyennes de l'Ãle de Montréal ( ). The city council is a democratically elected institution and is the final decision-making authority in the city, although much power is centralized in the executive committee. The Council consists of 73 members from all boroughs of the city. The Council has jurisdiction over many matters, including public security, agreements with other governments, subsidy programs, the environment, urban planning, and a three-year capital expenditure program. The City Council is also required to supervise, standardize or approve certain decisions made by the borough councils.
Reporting directly to the City Council, the executive committee exercises decision-making powers similar to that of the cabinet in a parliamentary system and is responsible for preparing various documents including budgets and by-laws, submitted to the City Council for approval. The decision-making powers of the executive committee cover, in particular, the awarding of contracts or grants, the management of human and financial resources, supplies and buildings. It may also be assigned further powers by the City Council.
Standing committees are the council's prime instruments for public consultation. They are responsible for the public study of pending matters and for making the appropriate recommendations to the council. They also review the annual budget forecasts for departments under their jurisdiction. A public notice of meeting is published in both French and English daily newspapers at least seven days before each meeting. All meetings include a public question period. The standing committees, of which there are seven, have terms lasting two years. In addition, the City Council may decide to create special committees at any time. Each standing committee is made up of seven to nine members, including a chairman and a vice-chairman. The members are all elected municipal officers, with the exception of a representative of the government of Quebec on the public security committee.
The city of Montreal is only one component of the larger Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (English: Montreal Metropolitan Community or MMC), which is in charge of planning, coordinating, and financing economic development, public transportation, garbage collection and waste management, etc., across the metropolitan area of Montreal. The president of the CMM is the mayor of Montreal. The CMM covers 4,360 square kilometres (1,683 sq mi), with 3.6 million inhabitants in 2006.
CFB Montreal contains the headquarters of the Land Force Quebec Area and several units of the Canadian Forces Primary Reserve.
Université de Montréal, Roger-Gaudry building.
McGill University, Arts Building.
The Integrated Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex at Concordia University
With access to six universities and twelve junior colleges in an radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America (4.38 students per 100 residents, followed by Boston at 4.37 students per 100 residents).
There are two anglophone universities in the city:
* McGill University is one of Canada's oldest universities, and widely recognized as a world-class institution. McGill has consistently been ranked in the top 25 universities in the world by the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings for the past six years (as of 2009).
* Concordia University was created from the merger of Sir George Williams University and Loyola College in 1974. A separate institution is affiliated to the university: John Molson School of Business.
There are also two francophone universities located in the city of Montreal:
* Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the second largest research university in Canada. Two separate institutions are affiliated to the university: the Ãcole Polytechnique de Montréal (School of Engineering) and HEC Montréal (School of Business).
* Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÃM) is the Montreal campus of Université du Québec. UQÃM generally specializes in liberal-arts. It has several separately run schools, notably the Ãcole de technologie supérieure (ETS), the Ãcole nationale d'administration publique (ENAP) and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).
Additionally, two French-language universities, Université de Sherbrooke and Université Laval have campuses in the nearby suburb of Longueuil on Montreal's south shore.
The education system in the province of Quebec is slightly different from other systems in North America. Between the high school and university levels, there is an additional college level called CEGEP. It is at the same time a preparatory school (preparing students for admission to university) and a technical school (offering courses which lead to technical diplomas and specializations). In Montreal, seventeen CEGEPs offer courses in French and five in English.
English-language elementary and secondary public schools on Montreal Island are operated by the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. French-language elementary and secondary public schools in Montreal are operated by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSMB) and the Commission scolaire Pointe-de-l'Ãle (CSPI).
Jacques Cartier Bridge.
Like many major cities, Montreal has a problem with vehicular traffic congestion, especially from off-island suburbs such as Laval on Ãle Jésus, and Longueuil on the south shore. The width of the Saint Lawrence River has made the construction of fixed links to the south shore expensive and difficult. There are only four road bridges along with one road tunnel, two railway bridges, and a metro line. The far narrower Rivière des Prairies, separating Montreal from Laval, is spanned by eight road bridges (six to Laval and two directly to the north shore) and a metro line.
The island of Montreal is a hub for the Quebec Autoroute system, and is served by Quebec Autoroutes A-10 (known as the Bonaventure Expressway on the island of Montreal), A-15 (aka the Decarie Expressway south of the A-40 and the Laurentian Autoroute to the north of it), A-13 (aka Autoroute Chomedey), A-20, A-25, A-40 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway system, and known as "The Metropolitan" or simply "The Met" in its elevated mid-town section), A-520, and A-720 (aka the Ville-Marie Autoroute). Many of these Autoroutes are frequently congested at rush hour. However, in recent years, the government has acknowledged this problem and is working on long-term solutions to alleviate the congestion. One such example is the extension of Quebec Autoroute 30 on Montreal's south shore, which will serve as a bypass.
Metro Train departing McGill station.
Public local transport is served by a network of buses, subways, and commuter trains that extend across and off the island. The subway and bus system is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The STM bus network consists of 165 daytime and 20 night-time service routes, and provides adapted transport and limited wheelchair-accessible buses.
Montreal's Metro was inaugurated in 1966 and today has 68 stations spread out along its four lines. Each station was designed by different architects with individual themes and features original artwork, and the trains themselves run on rubber tires, making the system quieter than most. The project was initiated by Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau, who would later bring the Summer Olympic Games to Montreal in 1976. The metro system has long had a station on the South Shore in Longueuil, and has only recently been extended to the city of Laval, north of Montreal with 3 new stations.
The commuter rail system is managed and operated by the Agence métropolitaine de transport, and reaches the outlying areas of Greater Montreal. Montreal's commuter rail network had 15.7 million passengers in 2007, making it the sixth busiest in North America following New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Toronto.
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montreal has two international airports, one for passenger flights only, and the other for cargo. Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (also known as Dorval Airport) in the City of Dorval serves all commercial passenger traffic and is the headquarters for Air Canada and Air Transat. To the north of the city is Montréal-Mirabel International Airport in Mirabel, which was envisioned as Montreal's primary airport but which now serves cargo flights along with MEDEVACs and general aviation as well as some passenger services. Hélibellule fait revivre le transport des passagers à Mirabel In 2008, Montreal-Trudeau was the third busiest airport in Canada by both passenger traffic and fourth by aircraft movements, behind Toronto Pearson, and Vancouver . In 2008 the airport handled 12.8 million passengers, and 225,219 aircraft movements. With 59.7% of its passengers being on non-domestic flights it has the largest percentage of international flights of any Canadian airport. Trudeau airport is served by 40 carriers to over 100 destinations worldwide. Airlines servicing Trudeau offer flights to Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States, Mexico and other destinations within Canada. It is the only Canadian airport that offers non-stop service to Africa and it also contains the largest duty free shop in North America.
The Agence métropolitaine de transport runs commuter trains serving Greater Montreal such as this one on the Deux-Montagnes Line.
Montreal-based VIA Rail, provides rail service to other cities in Canada, particularly to Quebec City and Toronto along the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger rail system, also provides service to Montreal, operating its Adirondack daily between Montreal and New York City. All intercity trains and most commuter trains operate out of Central Station.
Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), which is now headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was founded here in 1881. Its corporate headquarters occupied Windsor Station at 910 Peel Street until 1995. With the Port of Montreal kept open year round by icebreakers, lines to Eastern Canada became surplus, and now Montreal is the railway's eastern and intermodal freight terminus. CPR connects at Montreal with the Port of Montreal, the Delaware & Hudson Railway to New York, the Quebec-Gatineau Railway to Quebec City and Buckingham, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic to Halifax, and CN Rail. The CPR's flagship train, The Canadian, once ran daily from Windsor Station to Vancouver, all passenger services have since been transferred to VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal-based Canadian National Railways (CN) was formed during in 1919 by the Canadian Government following a series of country-wide rail bankruptcies. CN was formed from the lines of the Grand Trunk, Midland and Canadian Northern Railways, and has risen to become CPR's chief rival in freight carriage in Canada. Like the CPR, CN has divested itself of passenger services in favour of VIA Rail Canada.
Montreal has a number of sister cities:
* Yerevan (Armenia) â 1998
* Shanghai (China) â 1985
* Lyon, Rhône-Alpes (France) â 1979
* Paris, Ãle-de-France (France) â 2006
* Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (India) â 2000
* Hiroshima (Japan) â 1998
* Manila (Philippines) â 2005
* Busan (South Korea) â 2000
* Algiers (Algeria) â 1999
* Landmarks of Montreal
* List of people from Montreal
* List of Montreal mayors
* List of Montreal boroughs
* List of Montreal music venues
* List of Montreal metro stations
* List of bridges in Montreal
* List of shopping malls in Montreal
* List of tallest buildings in Montreal
* List of technology companies in Montreal
* List of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in Canada
* List of Quebec regions
* List of communities in Quebec
* Toronto-Montreal rivalry
* Underground City, Montreal
*
*
* Natural Resources Canada (2005). Canadian Geographical Names: Island of Montreal. Retrieved August 29, 2005.
* Michael Sletcher, 'Montréal', in James Ciment, ed., Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History, (5 vols., N.Y., 2005).
* Official portal of Montreal
* Official Tourism Montreal Website
*
* Life in Montreal (1840â1945), Images from the McCord Museum's collections
* The Atlas of Canada: Montreal, circa 1915
* Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec
* Architecture of Montréal
* Montréal from The Canadian Encyclopedia
|
Nairobi | Is Nairobi the capital of Kenya? | Yes | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Is Nairobi the capital of Kenya? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Was Nairobi founded in 1899? | Yes | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Was Nairobi founded in 1899? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Is the current estimated population of Nairobi about 6 milion? | No | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Is the current estimated population of Nairobi about 6 milion? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | What is the current estimated population of Nairobi? | About 3 million | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | What is the current estimated population of Nairobi? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | In what year was Nairobi founded? | 1899 | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | In what year was Nairobi founded? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Which embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998? | The United States Embassy | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Which embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | How many civilians died in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing? | Over two hundred | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | How many civilians died in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | How many trades can the NSE make per day? | 10 million trades | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | How many trades can the NSE make per day? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | About how many people are estimated to live in Nairobi? | 3 million | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | About how many people are estimated to live in Nairobi? | null | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and where? | Central Park | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | When did the Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtain its Letter of Interim Authority? | In 1989. | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Is Central Park adjacent to Uhuru Park? | Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park. | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Give an example of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. | The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%, an example of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Give an example of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. | Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Is Nairobi not the capital as well as largest city of Kenya? | Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Does the city and its surrounding area also form the Nairobi Province? | yes | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nairobi | Does the name ``Nairobi'' come from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to ``the place of cool waters''? | Yes. | data/set3/a9 | Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is surrounded by several expanding villa suburbs.
Founded in 1899 as a simple rail depot on the railway linking Mombasa to Uganda, the town quickly grew to become the capital of British East Africa in 1907 and eventually the capital of a free Kenyan republic in 1963. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee, tea and sisal industry. History - Nairobi Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi Province and of the Nairobi District. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1795 m above sea-level.
Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with a current estimated population of about 3 million. According to the 1999 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 2,143,254 inhabitants lived within . Nairobi is currently the 13th largest city in Africa, based on population and Fourth Largest in infrastructure development and its size.
Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the UN Office in Africa, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa, ranked fourth in terms of trading volume and capable of making 10 million trades a day. /ref> The Globalisation and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre.
Nairobi seen from SPOT Satellite
The area was an essentially uninhabited swamp until a supply depot of the Uganda Railway was built in 1899, which soon became the railway's headquarters. The city was named after a water hole known in Maasai as Ewaso Nyirobi, meaning "cool waters". It was completely rebuilt in the early 1900s after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. The location of the Nairobi railway camp was chosen due to its central position between Mombasa and Kampala. It was also chosen because its network of rivers could supply the camp with water, and its elevation would make it cool enough for residential purposes. However malaria was a serious problem, leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.
In 1905, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as capital of the British protectorate, and the city grew around administration and tourism, initially in the form of big game hunting. As the British colonialists started to explore the region, they started using Nairobi as their first port of call. This prompted the colonial government to build several spectacular grand hotels in the city. The main occupants were British game hunters.
Nairobi continued to grow under the British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs. The continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It also angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them.
In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.
In February 1926, E.A.T. Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, and said of the city:
After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement even though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion. Pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic.
After independence, Nairobi grew rapidly and this growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure. Power cuts and water shortages were a common occurrence, though in the past few years better city planning has helped to put some of these problems in check.
The United States Embassy in Nairobi was bombed in August 1998 by Al-Qaida, as one of a series of U.S. embassy bombings. Over two hundred civilians were killed. It is now the site of a memorial park.
City Hall, NairobiAn aerial view of Nairobi, the central business district and Ngong Road
Kenyatta International Conference Centre
The city is located at and occupies .
Nairobi is situated between the cities of Kampala and Mombasa. As Nairobi is adjacent to the eastern edge of the Rift Valley, minor earthquakes and tremors occasionally occur. The Ngong hills, located to the west of the city, are the most prominent geographical feature of the Nairobi Area. Mount Kenya is situated north of Nairobi and Mount Kilimanjaro is towards the south-east. Both mountains are visible from Nairobi on a clear day.
The Nairobi River and its tributaries traverse through the Nairobi Province. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai has fought fiercely to save the indigenous Karura Forest in northern Nairobi which was under threat of being replaced by housing and other infrastructure.
Nairobi's western suburbs stretch all the way from the Kenyatta National Hospital in the south to the UN headquarters and Gigiri in the north, a distance of about .
The city is centred on the City Square, which is located in the Central Business District. The Kenyan Parliament buildings, the Holy Family Cathedral, Nairobi City Hall, Nairobi Law Courts and the Kenyatta Conference Centre all surround the square.
At above sea level, Nairobi enjoys a moderate climate. Under the Koppen climate classification, Nairobi has a Subtropical Highland climate. The altitude makes for some chilly evenings, especially in the June/July season when the temperature can drop to . The sunniest and warmest part of the year are from December to March, when temperatures average the mid-twenties during the day. The mean maximum temperature for this period is .
There are two rainy seasons but rainfall can be moderate. The cloudiest part of the year is just after the first rainy season, when, until September, conditions are usually overcast with drizzle. As Nairobi is situated close to the equator, the differences between the seasons are minimal. The seasons are referred to as the wet season and dry season. The timing of sunrise and sunset varies little throughout the year, due to Nairobi's close proximity to the equator.
Nairobi is divided into a series of constituencies, these are Makadara, Kamukunji, Starehe, Langata, Dagoretti, Westlands, Kasarani and Embakasi. The main administrative divisions of Nairobi are Central, Dagoretti, Embakasi, Kasarani, Kibera, Makadara, Pumwani and Westlands. See: Nairobi Province Most of the upmarket suburbs are situated to the west of Nairobi, where most European settlers resided in colonial times. These include Karen, Langata, Lavington, Gigiri, Muthaiga, Runda and Highridge, although Kangemi and Dagoretti are lower income areas. The city's colonial past is commemorated by many English place-names. Most low and lower-middle income estates are located in eastern Nairobi. These include Kariokor, Dandora, Kariobangi, Embakasi and Huruma. Many Somali immigrants have also settled in Eastleigh, nicknamed "Little Mogadishu".
Nairobi skyline as seen from Uhuru Park.
Nairobi has many parks and open spaces throughout the city. The city has dense tree-cover and plenty of green spaces. The most famous park in Nairobi is Uhuru Park. The park borders the central business district and the neighbourhood Upper Hill. Uhuru (Freedom) Park is a centre for outdoor speeches, services and rallies. The park was to be built-over by former President Daniel arap Moi, who wanted his KANU party's 62-storey headquarters situated in the park. However, the park was saved by Wangari Maathai, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her efforts. See: Nobel Peace Prize
Central Park is adjacent to Uhuru Park, and includes a memorial for Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya. Other notable open spaces include Jeevanjee Gardens, City Park, Bomb Blast Memorial Park and Nairobi Arboretum.Uhuru park, Nairobi
The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province.
The Nairobi province differs in several ways from other Kenyan provinces. The province is the smallest in area and is entirely urban. It has only one local authority, Nairobi City Council. Nairobi Province was not divided into districts until 2007, when three districts were created. The province is further divided into "divisions" which are further divided into "locations".
Nairobi Province has eight constituencies, which follow same boundaries with administrative divisions (which is not the case on most districts in Kenya). Constituency name may differ from division name, such that Starehe Constituency is equal to Central division, Langata Constituency to Kibera division, Kamukunji Constituency to Pumwani Division in terms of boundaries.
Co-operative Bank of KenyaNairobi is divided into eight divisions and fifty locations, mostly named after residential estates. Kibera Division, for example, includes Kibera (Kenya's largest slum) as well as affluent estates of Karen, westlands and Langata.
I&M Bank headquarters in Nairobi.
Nairobi is home to the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), one of Africa's largest. The NSE was officially recognised as an overseas stock exchange by the London Stock Exchange in 1953. The exchange is Africa's 4th largest (in terms of trading volumes) and 5th (in terms of Market Capitalisation as a percentage of GDP).
Nairobi is the regional headquarters of several international companies and organiations. In 2007, General Electric, Young & Rubicam, Google, Coca Cola, Zain and Cisco Systems relocated their African headquarters to the city. The United Nations Office at Nairobi hosts UNEP and UN-Habitat headquarters.
Several of Africa's largest companies are headquartered in Nairobi. KenGen, which is the largest African stock outside South Africa, is based in the city. Kenya Airways, Africa's fourth largest airline, uses Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a hub.
Goods manufactured in Nairobi include clothing, textiles, building materials, processed foods, beverages, cigarettes. Several foreign companies have factories based in and around the city. These include Goodyear, General Motors, Toyota Motors, and Coca Cola.
Nairobi has a large tourist industry, being both a tourist destination and a transport hub.
Nairobi skyline viewed from Westlands.
Nairobi has grown around its central business district. It takes a rectangular shape, around the Uhuru Highway, Haille Selassie Avenue, Moi Avenue and University Way. It features many of Nairobi's important buildings, including the City Hall and Parliament Building. The city square is also located within the perimeter.
A feature of the central business district that strikes foreign tourists the most is the skyline. Nairobi's skyline has been compared to many Asian and American cities. This is due to a construction boom after independence, and another construction boom in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the skyscrapers in this region are the headquarters of businesses and corporations, such as I&M and the Kenyatta international Conference Center. The United States Embassy bombing took place in this district, prompting a new embassy building to be built in the suburbs.
In 2006, a large beautification project took place in the CBD, as the city prepared to host the 2006 Afri-Cities summit. Iconic buildings such as the Kenyatta International Conference Centre had their exteriors cleaned and repainted.
The district is bordered to the southwest by Uhuru Park and Central Park. The Mombasa to Kampala railway runs to the southeast of the district.
Today, many businesses are considering relocating and/or establishing their headquarters outside the Central Business District. This is because land is cheaper, and better facilities can easily be built and maintained elsewhere. Two areas that are seeing a growth in companies and office space are Upper Hill, which is approximately from the CBD and Westlands, which is approximately the same distance.
Companies that have moved from the CBD to Upper Hill include Citibank and in 2007, Coca Cola began construction on their East and Central African headquarters in Upper Hill, cementing the district as the preferred location for office space in Nairobi. The largest office development in this area is the Rahimtulla Tower, which is primarily occupied by British firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers. World Bank is also located in Upper Hill, Hill Park Building. Earlier on, they were located in View Park towers in the CBD. The International Finance Cooperation - the private sector arm of the World Bank - is also located in Upper Hill at the CBA building.
To accommodate the large demand for floorspace in Nairobi, various commercial projects are being constructed. New business parks are being built in the city, including the flagship Nairobi Business Park. Nairobi is currently being considered by a Middle-Eastern company who is interested in building a high-rise headquarters in Africa.
A view of Nairobi from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
Business district in Nairobi on Sunday
Nairobi is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Since its foundation, Nairobi has maintained a strong British presence, and a lasting legacy from colonial rule. This is highlighted by the number of English-named suburbs, including Hurlingham and Parklands.
By the mid twentieth century, many foreigners settled in Nairobi from other British colonies, primarily India and Pakistan. These immigrants were workers who arrived to construct the Kampala - Mombasa railway, settling in Nairobi after its completion, and merchants from Gujarat. Nairobi also has established communities from Somalia and Sudan.
As Nairobi has a diverse and multicultural composition, there are a number of churches, mosques, temples and gurdwaras within the city. Prominent places of worship in Nairobi include the Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Family, All Saints Cathedral, Ismaili Jamat Khana and Jamia Mosque.
Nairobi has two informal nicknames. The first is "The Green City in the Sun", which is derived from the city's foliage and warm climate. The second is the "Safari Capital of the World", which is used due to Nairobi's prominence as a hub for safari tourism.
There are a number of modern malls in the Nairobi Area, including: West Gate, Prestige, Village Market, Sarit Center, Junction, etc. These malls attract Kenyans from all walk of life, mostly for their theaters.
Nairobi Cinema.jpgKwani? is Kenya's first literary journal and was established by modern writers living in Nairobi. Nairobi's publishing houses have also produced the works of some of Kenya's best known and most respected authors, including Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Meja Mwangi who were all part of the post-colonial writing boom.
Many film makers also practice their craft out of Nairobi. Film-making is still young in the country but people like producer Njeri Karago and director Judy Kibinge are paving the way for others.
Perhaps the most famous book and film set in Nairobi, is Out of Africa. The book was written by Karen Blixen (pen name Isak Dinesen), and it is her account of living in Kenya. Karen Blixen lived in the Nairobi Area from 1917 to 1931 (the neighbourhood in which she lived, Karen, is named after her).
In 1985, Out of Africa was made into a film, directed by Sydney Pollack. The film won 28 awards, including 7 Academy Awards. The popularity of the film prompted the opening of Nairobi's Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is also the setting of many of the novels of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Kenya's foremost writer.
Nairobi has been the set of several other American and British films. The most recent of these was The Constant Gardener (2005), a large part of which was filmed in the city. The story revolves around a British diplomat in Nairobi whose wife is murdered in northern Kenya. Much of the filming was in the Kibera slum.
Most new Hollywood films are nowadays screened at Nairobi's cinemas. Up to early 90s there were only few film theatres and the repertoire was scanty. There are also two drive-in cinemas in Nairobi.
Nairobi is the centre of the Kenyan music scene. Benga is a Kenyan genre which was developed in Nairobi. The genre evolved between the 1940s and the 1960s, and by the late 1960s, it was the most popular music genre in Kenya. The genre is a fusion of jazz and Luo music forms.
In the 1970s, Nairobi became the prominent centre for East and Central African music. During this period, Nairobi was established as a hub of soukous music. This genre was born in Kinshasa and Brazzaville. After the political climate in the region deteriorated, many Congolese artists relocated to Nairobi. Artists such as Orchestra Super Mazembe moved from Congo to Nairobi and found great success.
Virgin records became aware of the popularity of the genre and signed recording contracts with several soukous artists.
More recently, Nairobi has become the centre of the Kenyan hip hop scene. The genre has become very popular amongst the East African youth, and Nairobi acts have become some of the most popular in the region. Successful artists based in Nairobi include Jua cali Nonini and Nameless, P-Unit, Amani, Jimw@t, Mejja and record labels based in the city include Ogopa DJs, Calif Records, Jomino Records. Genge music, a subgenre of hip hop, was born in Nairobi and popularised by Calif Records hit makers Jua cali and Nonini.
Hip-hop has become a major part of the youth's culture in Nairobi. While rock and alternative music have a faithful underground following.
Many foreign musicians who tour Africa, perform and visit Nairobi. Bob Marley's first ever visit to Africa started in Nairobi. Acts that have performed in Nairobi recently include Shaggy, Sean Paul, Ja Rule, Morgan Heritage and Mr. Vegas who performed in December 2008 G'Pange concert. Most recently American sensation The Game performed before a packed house en route to MTV African Awards in Nigeria. Nairobi has a large fanbase of western hiphop culture. In the late 1990s, popular rappers such as Coolio and the Lost Boyz performed in the city. 2008 also saw popular underground rapper Craig G have a performance organised by Ghetto Radio, a FM station playing mostly conscious and deep rooted music. Nairobi has number of nightclubs in the CBD as well as suburbs.
The Nairobi Music Society in conjunction with the Nairobi Orchestra give at least three classical music concerts every year and arrange a variety of recitals and other musical events.
Exterior of the 60,000 capacity Moi International Sports Centre.
Nairobi is East Africa's sporting centre. The premier sports facility in Nairobi is the Moi International Sports Centre in the suburb of Kasarani. The complex was completed in 1987, and was used to host the 1987 All Africa Games. The complex comprises a 60,000 seater stadium, the second largest in East Africa (after Tanzania's new national stadium), a 5,000 seater gymnasium, and a 2,000 seater aquatics centre.
Coca Cola National Stadium
formally known as Nyayo National Stadium is Nairobi's second largest stadium. Completed in 1983, the stadium has a capacity of 30,000.
This stadium is primarily used for football. The facility is located close to the Central Business District, which makes it a convenient location for political gatherings.
Nairobi City Stadium is the city's first stadium, and used for club football. Nairobi Gymkhana is the home of the Kenyan cricket team, and was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. Notable annual events staged in Nairobi include Safari Rally (although it lost its World Rally Championship status in 2003), Safari Sevens rugby union tournament, and Nairobi Marathon.
Football is the most popular sport in the city by viewership and participation. This is highlighted by the number of football clubs in the city, including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, Gor Mahia and Tusker FC.
There are six golf courses within a 20 km radius of Nairobi.
The oldest 18-hole golf course in the city is the Royal Nairobi Golf Club, founded in 1906 by the British, just seven years after the city was founded. Other notable golf clubs include the Windsor Country Club, Karen Country Club and Muthaiga Country Club. The Kenya Open golf tournament, which is part of the Challenge Tour, takes place in Nairobi. . The Ngong Racecourse in Nairobi is the center of horse racing in Kenya The Standard, April 3, 2009: Kenya Derby is main Jockey Club of Kenya event .
A giraffe at Nairobi National Park, with Nairobi's skyline in background
Nairobi is not a prime tourist destination, but it does have several tourist attractions. The most famous is the Nairobi National Park. The national park is unique, in being the only game-reserve of this nature to border a capital city, or city of this size. The park contains many animals including lions and giraffes. The park is home to over 400 species of bird. The Nairobi safari walk is a major attraction to the Nairobi national park as it offers a rare on-foot experience of the animals.
Nairobi is home to several museums. The National Museum of Kenya is the largest in the city. It houses a large collection of artifacts, including the full remains of a homo erectus boy. Other prominent museums include the Nairobi Railway Museum and the Karen Blixen Museum.
Nairobi is nicknamed the Safari Capital of the World, and has many spectacular hotels to cater for safari-bound tourists. Five star hotels in Nairobi include the Nairobi Serena, Laico Regency (formerly Grand Regency), Windsor (Karen), Holiday Inn, East African Safari Club (Lilian Towers), The Stanley Hotel, Safari Park & Casino, InterContinental, Panari Hotel, Hilton, and the Norfolk Hotel.
Nairobi is also home to the largest ice rink in Africa: the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre. The rink, opened in 2005, covers and can accommodate 200 people. BBC NEWS | World | Africa | East Africa's ice skating first
Shopping Malls in Nairobi include; The Yaya Centre (Hurlingham), Sarit Centre(Westlands), Westgate Shopping Mall(Westlands), ABC Place(Westlands), The Village Market(Gigiri), Junciton Shopping Centre(Ngong Road), Prestige Plaza(Ngong Road), Crossroads Shopping Centre(Karen), and T-Mall(Langata). Nakumatt, Uchumi and Tuskys are the largest supermarket chains with modern stores through-out the city.
The Nairobi Java House is a popular chain of restaurants with multiple branches located around the city including one at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Other notable sites include Jomo Kenyatta's mausoleum, Kenya National Theatre and the Kenya National Archives. Art galleries in Nairobi include the Rahimtulla Museum of Modern Art (Ramoma) and the Mizizi Arts Centre.
* Nairobi National Park
* Karen Blixen Museum
* Bomas of Kenya
* Giraffe Centre
* David Sheldrick Centre
An aerial of the cargo terminal at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in East Africa.
Nairobi is served primarily by Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. It is the largest airport in East and Central Africa, and handled over 4.9 million passengers in 2008. The airport is a major transit hub for passengers flying to East Africa's natural attractions, and other smaller cities in East and Central Africa. The airport is situated from Nairobi's Central Business District. The airport directly serves intercontinental passengers from Europe and Asia. There are currently major plans underway to expand the airport to accommodate growing air traffic JKIA Airport Expansion Plans .
Wilson Airport is a small, busy airport to the south of Nairobi. It handles small aircrafts that generally operate within Kenya, although some offer services to other East African destinations.
Eastleigh Airport was the original landing strip in the pre-jet airline era. It was used as a landing point in the 1930s and 1940s British passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. This route was served by flying boats between Britain and Kisumu and then by land-based aircraft on the routes to the south. The airport is now a military base.
A Nairobi Matatu, after the regulation changes.
Matatus are the most common form of public transport in Nairobi.
Matatus, which technically means, "three cents for a ride" (nowadays much more) are privately owned minibuses, and the most popular form of local transport, and generally seat fourteen to twenty-four. Matatus ama(or) mathree operate within Nairobi and from Nairobi to other towns. The matatu's destination is imprinted on the side of the bus. Matatus plying specific routes have specific route numbers. Matatus were easily distinguishable by their extravagant paint schemes. Owners would paint their matatu with their favourite football team or hip hop artist. These days some even paint Barack Obama's face on their Matatu. They were notorious for their poor safety records, which was a result of overcrowding and reckless driving. Matatu drivers were pressured to make as many round trips as possible to maximise profits for their operator. They are very popular within the city. Most are equipped with high music systems and televisions which attract customers as competition is very high between matatus. The more round trips with the more customers basically means more money for the workers and the owners.
However, in 2004, a law was passed requiring all matatus to include seat belts and speed governors and to be painted with a yellow stripe. At first, this caused a furore amongst Matatu operators, but they were pressured by government and the public to make the changes. Matatus are now limited to .
Busses are increasingly common in the city. The three bus companies operating the city routes are the traditional Kenya Bus Service (KBS), and newer private operators Citi Hoppa and Double M. The Citi Hoppa buses are distinguishable by their green livery, the Double M busses are painted purple while the KBS busses are painted blue.
Companies such as; Akamba, Coast Bus, Modern Coast,Eldoret Express, Chania and Mash run
scheduled busses and luxury coaches to other cities and towns.
Smartbus-Kenya is the latest bus operator in Kenya and serves Nairobi and the areas around it. Presently, the company operates busses to Kitengela, Kiserian, Rongai, and Ngong. Passengers have a smartcard which they must swipe in order to gain access to the vehicle. Passengers top up their smartcard and the fare is deducted from the amount of money in the account. The fare is determined by the point at which the passenger enters and the point at which the passenger exits the bus. Smartbus is safe, reliable and is certainly a modern way to travel around the city.
Nairobi was founded as a railway town, and the Kenya Railways (KR) main headquarters are still situated there, near the city centre. The line runs through Nairobi, from Mombasa to Kampala. Its main use is freight traffic, but regular nightly passenger trains connect Nairobi to Mombasa and Kisumu. A number of morning and evening commuter trains connect the centre with the suburbs, but the city has no proper light rail, tramway or subway lines.
Nairobi is also the junction for a branch railway to Nanyuki.
Taxis are available in most parts of the city. They are costly in comparison to matatus and busses but are a safer and more convenient form of transport. They park outside most hotels, at taxi ranks in the city centre and at shopping malls.
Driving in Nairobi is straight-forward. Most of the Roads are tarmacked and there are signs showing directions to certain neighborhoods. The city is connected to the the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by the Mombasa Highway which passes through Industrial Area, South B, South C and Embakasi. Ongata Rongai, Langata and Karen are connected to the city centre by Langata Road which runs to the south. Lavington, Riverside, Westlands etc. are connected by Waiyaki Way. Kasarani, Eastlands, Embakasi are connected by Thika Road, Jogoo Road and Outer-ring Road.
Highways connect the city with other major towns such as Mombasa, Machakos, Voi,(A 109), Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Namanga Border Tanzania(A 104) etc.
Nation Center, headquarters of the Nation Media Group
Nairobi is home to most of Kenya's news and media organisations. The city is also home to East Africa's largest newspapers: the Daily Nation and the The Standard. These are circulated within Kenya and cover a range of domestic and regional issues. Both newspapers are published in English.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is a state-run television and radio station, is headquartered in the city. Kenya Television Network is part of the Standard Group and was Kenya's first privately owned TV station. The Nation Media Group runs NTV which is based in Nairobi. East Africa Television Channel 5 is 24 hour music channel based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania and broadcasts in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
Several multinational media organisations have their regional headquarters in Nairobi. These include the BBC, CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Deutsche Welle and the Associated Press. The East African bureau of CNBC Africa is located in Nairobi's city centre, while the Nairobi bureau of the New York Times is located in the suburb of Gigiri.
There is a wide variety of standards of living in Nairobi. Most wealthy Kenyans live in Nairobi but the majority of Nairobians are poor. Half of the population have been estimated to live in slums which cover just 5% of the city area. Where the Sidewalks End The growth of these slums is a result of urbanisation, poor town planning and the unavailability of loans for low income earners.
Kibera is one of the largest slums in Africa, and is situated to the west of Nairobi. (Kibera comes from the Nubian word Kibra, meaning "forest" or "jungle"). IRIN In-Depth | KENYA: Kibera, The Forgotten City | East Africa | Kenya | Environment Urban Risk | In-Depth The slums cover two square kilometres and is on government land. Kibera has been the setting for several films, the most recent being The Constant Gardener.
A middle-class Nairobi residential suburb, with the Central Business District in the distance.
Other notable slums include Mathare and Korogocho. Altogether, 66 areas are counted as slums within Nairobi.
Many Nairobi non-slum-dwellers live in relatively good housing conditions. Large houses can be found in many of the upmarket neighbourhoods, especially to the west of Nairobi. Historically, British immigrants have settled in Gigiri, Muthaiga, Langata and Karen. Other middle and high income estates include Parklands, Westlands, Hurlingham, Milimani, Spring Valley, Lavington, Rosslyn, Kitisuru, and Nairobi Hill.
To accommodate the growing middle class, many new apartments and housing developments are being built in and around the city. The most notable development is Greenpark, at Athi River town, from Nairobi's CBD. Over 5,000 houses, villas and apartments are being constructed at this development, including leisure, retail and commercial facilities. The development is being marketed at families, as are most others within the city. Eastlands also houses most most of the city's middle class and includes; South C, South B, Embakasi, Buru Buru, Komarock,Donholm, Umoja, and others
Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates of any city in Africa. Since its foundation in 1899, Nairobi has grown to become the largest city in East Africa, despite being the youngest city in the region. The growth rate of Nairobi is currently 6.9%. Nairobi - Ethos International It is estimated that Nairobi's population will reach 5 million in 2015. Build cities to contain population explosion
Kibera slum
New Apartment buildings being constructed next to Kibera
The Kibera slum in Nairobi, with an estimated population of 1.5 million people, is Africa's second largest slum. Most of its people live in extreme poverty, and most people make less than $1.00 per day. Unemployment rates are high. AIDS is rampant throughout the slum. Video: The women of Kibera in Kenya | Amnesty International Cases of assault and rape are common. There are few schools, and most people cannot afford an education for their children. As many people cannot afford water, some drink from sewage. AIDS and other diseases are prevalent, and the great majority of people lack access to healthcare. Most people live in shanties. An Amnesty International delegation visited the slum, and interviewed many of the residents. Kibera resident Michael Nyangi, an entreupenear and head of the microfinance organization Lomoro participated in a conference with the United Nations, the World Bank, and several Non-governmental organizations on October 17, 2008, trying to raise awareness, and was featured in an Amnesty International video. Kibera is the third largest slum in the world. It is the second largest slum in Africa, second only to Soweto, in South Africa in terms of size and population.
The Government is attempting to solve the problem, having initiated a program to replace the slum with a residential district consisting of high rise apartment buildings, and moving the residents in upon completion. The apartments are currently under construction, but the district does not have enough apartments to hold all of the 1.5 million residents of the slum. Many of the residents will not be able to afford to pay the rent, although cheap. The Government hopes to eventually relocate all residents so as to tear Kibera down.
Throughout the 1990s, Nairobi had struggled with rising crime, earning a reputation for being a dangerous city and the nickname "Nairobbery". In 2001, the United Nations International Civil Service Commission rated Nairobi as among the most insecure cities in the world, classifying the city as "status C". In the United Nations report, it was stated that in 2001, nearly one third of all Nairobi residents experienced some form of robbery in the city. U.N. Study Says Nairobi Is Inundated With Crime - NYTimes.com The head of one development agency cited the "notoriously high levels of violent armed robberies, burglaries and carjackings. Crime had risen in Nairobi as a result of unplanned urbanisation, with a minimal number of police stations and a proper security infrastructure. However, many claim that the biggest factor for the city's alarming crime rate is police corruption, which leaves many criminals unpunished. As a security precaution, most large houses have a watch guard, burglar grills, and dogs to patrol their grounds during the night. Most though occur around the poor neighborhoods where it gets dangerous during night hours.
In 2006, crime decreased in the city , due to increased security and an improved police presence. Despite this, in 2007, the Kenyan government and U.S. State Department has announced that Nairobi is experiencing a greater level of violent crime than in previous years. OSAC - Kenya 2007 Crime & Safety Report Since then, the government has taken measures to combat crime with heavy police presence in and around the city while U.S. government has updated its travel warning for the country.
The Majority of schools follow either the Kenyan Curriculum or the British Curriculum. Top Schools include Makini Schools, Riara Schools, Kenton College, Braeburn Schools, Brookhouse Schools, Nairobi Academy, Strathmore School, St. Mary's, Rosslyn Academy and Hillcrest School. There is also International School of Kenya which follows the North American Curriculum and the German school in Gigiri.
The grounds of Kenyatta University
Nairobi is home to several universities.
*The University of Nairobi is the oldest university in Kenya. It was established in 1956, as part of the University of East Africa, but became an independent university in 1970. The university has approximately 22,000 students.
*Kenyatta University is situated from the centre of Nairobi. The university was established in 1985, offering mainly education-related courses, but has since diversified, offering medicine and environmental studies as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce degree courses.
*Strathmore University started in 1961 as an Advanced Level (UK) Sixth Form College offering Science and Arts subjects. The college started to admit accountancy students in March 1966, and thus became a university. In January 1993 Strathmore College merged with Kianda College and moved to Ole Sangale Road, Madaraka Estate, Nairobi.
*Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
*United States International University - Nairobi is a branch of the United States International University, which has campuses across the world. The Nairobi campus was established in 1969. The university has accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, in USA and the Government of Kenya.
*Daystar University is a Christian liberal arts university located in Athi River, an outlying town south-east of Nairobi, with a satellite campus on Nairobi's Ngong Road.
*In 2005, The Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi was upgraded to a teaching hospital, providing post graduate education in medicine and surgery including nursing education, henceforth renamed the Aga Khan University Hospital.
*The Catholic University of Eastern Africa which obtained its "Letter of Interim Authority" in 1989. Following negotiations between the Authority of the Graduate School of Theology and the Commission for Higher Education (CHIEA), the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences was established three years later, culminating in the granting of the Civil Charter to CHIEA on 3 November 1992.
*The Africa Nazarene University, located in Ongata Rongai, is a private chartered Christian university sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene International and it is a member of the worldwide family of Nazarene institutions.
Denver, Colorado (1975) Sister Cities International
; News
* Daily Nation
* The Standard
* Nairobi.com
; Community
* Nairobians.com
; Other
* The City Council of Nairobi (official website)
* National Geographic Feature about Nairobi
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 1738 m (Red dots are railways)
|
Nikola_Tesla | Did Nikola Tesla die alone? | Nikola Tesla died alone. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Did Nikola Tesla die alone? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Nikola Tesla close friends with Mark Twain? | Nikola Tesla was close friends with Mark Twain. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Nikola Tesla close friends with Mark Twain? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Did Nikola Tesla use a technique called picture thinking? | Nikola Tesla used a technique called picture thinking. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Did Nikola Tesla use a technique called picture thinking? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | When did Nikola Tesla appear on the cover of Time Magazine? | On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | When did Nikola Tesla appear on the cover of Time Magazine? | 1931 | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Who became adversaries with Nikola Tesla? | Nikola Tesla became adversaries with Edison. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Who became adversaries with Nikola Tesla? | Edison | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Where did Nikola Tesla move to in 1880? | In 1880, Nikola Tesla moved to Budapest. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Where did Nikola Tesla move to in 1880? | Budapest | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Nikola Tesla's mother illiterate? | Nikola Tesla's mother never learned to read. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Nikola Tesla's mother illiterate? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | How many siblings did Nikola Tesla have? | Nikola Tesla had four siblings. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | How many siblings did Nikola Tesla have? | 4 | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Nikola Tesla a vegetarian? | In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Nikola Tesla a vegetarian? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Is there a monument to Tesla at Niagara Falls, New York? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Is there a monument to Tesla at Niagara Falls, New York? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Tesla an American citizen? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Tesla an American citizen? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Tesla on the cover of Time magazine? | Yes | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Tesla on the cover of Time magazine? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Where did Tesla study electrical engineering? | The Austrian Polytechnic in Graz | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Where did Tesla study electrical engineering? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | When did Tesla receive his last patent? | 1928 | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | When did Tesla receive his last patent? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | What languages did Tesla speak? | Serbian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | What languages did Tesla speak? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Did Tesla win the Nobel Prize? | No | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Did Tesla win the Nobel Prize? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Tesla rich at the time of his death? | No | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | Was Tesla rich at the time of his death? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | What music group was named after Tesla? | Tesla | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Nikola_Tesla | What music group was named after Tesla? | null | data/set4/a3 | Nikola_Tesla
Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 â 7 January 1943) was an inventor and a mechanical and electrical engineer. He was one of the most important contributors to the birth of commercial electricity and is best known for his many revolutionary developments in the field of electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current (AC) electric power systems, including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan, Croatian Military Frontier in Austrian Empire (today's Croatia). He was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen. After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. During this period, in the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture, but because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist. Tesla never put much focus on his finances. It is said he died impoverished, at the age of 86.
The International System of Units unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960), as well as the Tesla effect of wireless energy transfer to wirelessly power electronic devices (which Tesla demonstrated on a low scale with incandescent light bulbs as early as 1893 and aspired to use for the intercontinental transmission of industrial power levels in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project).
Aside from his work on electromagnetism and electromechanical engineering, Tesla contributed in varying degrees to the establishment of robotics, remote control, radar, and computer science, and to the expansion of ballistics, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In 1943, the Supreme Court of the United States credited him as being the inventor of the radio. U.S. Supreme Court, "Marconi Wireless Telegraph co. of America v. United States". 320 U.S. 1. Nos. 369, 373. Argued 9â12 April 1943. Decided 21 June 1943. A few of his achievements have been used, with some controversy, to support various pseudosciences, UFO theories, and early New Age occultism.
Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia
c.1879 at age 23
Three-phase rotating magnetic field
Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of GospiÄ, found in the territory of modern day Croatia.
His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July) , 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, Metropolitanate of Sremski Karlovci and Äuka MandiÄ. His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle OrloviÄ His mother Äuka , daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read. Seifer, "Wizard" p. 7
Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica). Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, "Tesla, Master of Lightning". Barnes & Noble Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0760710058. His family moved to GospiÄ in 1862. Tesla went to school in Karlovac. He finished a four year term in the span of three years. Walker, E. H. (1900). Leaders of the 19th century with some noted characters of earlier times, their efforts and achievements in advancing human progress vividly portrayed for the guidance of present and future generations. Chicago: A.B. Kuhlman Co., p, 474.
Tesla then studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz (1875). While there, he studied the uses of alternating current. Some sources say he received Baccalaureate degrees from the university at Graz. " The Book of New York: Forty Years' Recollections of the American Metropolis" says he matriculated 4 degrees (physics, mathematics, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering) Harper's Encyclopædia of United States History from 458 A.D. to 1906. Harper & brothers 1905. Page 52. However, the university claims that he did not receive a degree and did not continue beyond the first semester of his third year, during which he stopped attending lectures. Nikola Tesla: the European Years, D. Mrkich
. Cited in Seifer, Marc, The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1996 In December 1878 he left Graz and broke all relations with his family. His friends thought that he had drowned in Mura. He went to Maribor, (today's Slovenia), where he was first employed as an assistant engineer for a year. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. Tesla was later persuaded by his father to attend the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague, which he attended for the summer term of 1880. Here, he was influenced by Ernst Mach. However, after his father died, he left the university, having completed only one term.
Tesla engaged in reading many works, memorizing complete books, supposedly having a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of inspiration. During his early life, Tesla was stricken with illness time and time again. He suffered a peculiar affliction in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea he might have come across; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily envision it in realistic detail. Modern-day synesthetes report similar symptoms. Tesla would visualise an invention in his brain with extreme precision, including all dimensions, before moving to the construction stage; a technique sometimes known as picture thinking. He typically did not make drawings by hand, instead just conceiving all ideas with his mind. Tesla also often had flashbacks to events that had happened previously in his life; this began to happen during childhood.
In 1880, he moved to Budapest to work under Tivadar Puskás in a telegraph company, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography. P. 261.
the National Telephone Company. There, he met NebojÅ¡a PetroviÄ, a young, Serbian inventor who lived in Austria. Although their encounter was brief, they did work on a project together using twin turbines to create continual power. On the opening of the telephone exchange in Budapest, 1881, Tesla became the chief electrician to the company, and was later engineer for the country's first telephone system. He also developed a device that, according to some, was a telephone repeater or amplifier, but according to others could have been the first loudspeaker. " Did Tesla really invent the loudspeaker?". 21st Century Books, Breckenridge, CO.
Patent
In 1882 he moved to Paris, France, to work as an engineer for the Continental Edison Company, designing improvements to electric equipment brought overseas from Edison's ideas. In the same year, Tesla conceived the induction motor and began developing various devices that use rotating magnetic fields for which he received patents in 1888.
Soon thereafter, Tesla was awakened from a dream in which his mother had died, "And I knew that this was so". After her death, Tesla fell ill. He spent two to three weeks recuperating in GospiÄ and the village of Tomingaj near GraÄac, his mother's birthplace.
On 6 June 1884, Tesla first arrived in the US in New York City "Master of Lightning" by Public Broadcasting Service. Website with little besides a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, a former employer. In the letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison, Batchelor wrote, "I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man." Edison hired Tesla to work for his Edison Machine Works. Tesla's work for Edison began with simple electrical engineering and quickly progressed to solving some of the company's most difficult problems. Tesla was even offered the task of completely redesigning the Edison company's direct current generators.
Tesla claims he was offered US$50,000 (~ US$1.1 million in 2007, adjusted for inflation) Adjusting the reported given amount of money for inflation, the US$50,000 in 1885 would equal US$1,140,112.60 in 2007 if he redesigned Edison's inefficient motor and generators, making an improvement in both service and economy. Tesla said he worked night and day on the project and gave the Edison Company several profitable new patents in the process. In 1885 when Tesla inquired about the payment for his work, Edison replied, "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor," thus breaking his word. Clifford A. Pickover, Strange Brains and Genius: The Secret Lives of Eccentric Scientists and Madmen. HarperCollins, 1999. 352 pages. P. 14. ISBN 0688168949 "My Inventions" by Nikola Tesla, printed in Electrical Experimenter FebâJune, 1919. Reprinted, edited by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1982. ISBN
Earning a mere US$18 per week, Tesla would have had to work for 53 years to earn the amount he was promised. The offer was equal to the initial capital of the company. Tesla then immediately resigned when he was refused a raise to US$25 per week. Jonnes,"Empire of light" p. 110
Tesla, in need of work, eventually found himself digging ditches for a short period of time for the Edison company. He saw the manual labor as a terrible job, but Tesla used this time to focus on his AC polyphase system.
In 1886, Tesla formed his own company, Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing. The initial financial investors disagreed with Tesla on his plan for an alternating current motor and eventually relieved him of his duties at the company. Tesla worked in New York as a common laborer from 1886 to 1887 to feed himself and raise capital for his next project. In 1887, he constructed the initial brushless alternating current induction motor, which he demonstrated to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now IEEE) in 1888. In the same year, he developed the principles of his Tesla coil and began working with George Westinghouse at Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company's Pittsburgh labs. Westinghouse listened to his ideas for polyphase systems which would allow transmission of alternating current electricity over long distances.
In April 1887, Tesla began investigating what would later be called X rays using his own single terminal vacuum tubes (similar to his patent ). This device differed from other early X-ray tubes in that it had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode through a combination of field electron emission and thermionic emission. Once liberated, electrons are strongly repelled by the high electric field near the electrode during negative voltage peaks from the oscillating HV output of the Tesla Coil, generating X rays as they collide with the glass envelope. He also used Geissler tubes. By 1892, Tesla became aware of the skin damage that Wilhelm Röntgen later identified as an effect of X rays.
In the early research, Tesla devised several experimental setups to produce X rays. Tesla held that, with his circuits, the "instrument will [... enable one to] generate Roentgen rays of much greater power than obtainable with ordinary apparatus". N. Tesla, HIGH FREQUENCY OSCILLATORS FOR ELECTRO-THERAPEUTIC AND OTHER PURPOSES. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 25.
He also commented on the hazards of working with his circuit and single node X-ray producing devices. Of his many notes in the early investigation of this phenomenon, he attributed the skin damage to various causes. One of the options for the cause, which is not in conformity with conventional X-ray production, was that the ozone generated rather than the radiation was responsible. He believed early on that damage to the skin was not caused by the Roentgen rays, but the ozone generated in contact with the skin, and to a lesser extent, nitrous acid. Tesla held that these were in fact longitudinal waves, such as those produced in waves in plasma. In a plasma or a confined space, there can exist waves which are either longitudinal or transverse, or a mixture of both. There are known examples of this and these plasma waves can occur in the situation of force-free magnetic fields. Griffiths, David J. Introduction to Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-13-805326-X and Jackson, John D. Classical Electrodynamics, ISBN 0-471-30932-X. Proceedings of the American Electro-Therapeutic Association, American Electro-Therapeutic Association. Page 16. His hypotheses and experiments were confirmed by others. George Frederick Shrady, Thomas Lathrop Stedman, Medical Record, 1897. Page 287.
Tesla continued research in the field and, later, observed an assistant severely "burnt" by X rays in his lab. He performed several experiments prior to Roentgen's discovery (including photographing the bones of his hand; later, he sent these images to Roentgen) but didn't make his findings widely known; much of his research was lost in the 5th Avenue lab fire of March 1895.
The Tesla generator was developed by Tesla in 1895, in conjunction with his developments concerning the liquefaction of air. Tesla knew, from Lord Kelvin's discoveries, that more heat is absorbed by liquefied air when it is re-gasified and used to drive something, than is required by theory, in other words, that the liquefaction process is somewhat anomalous or 'over unity' Nikola Tesla, Startling Prediction of the World's Greatest Living Scientist (Article, the North American, May 18, 1902). . Just prior to Tesla's completion of his work, and the filing of a patent application, Tesla's laboratory was burned down, destroying all his equipment, models and inventions. Immediately after the fire, Linde, in Germany, filed 'his' patent application for the exact same process, which recombined some of the heat energy produced in compression of the air, to drive the process, just as Tesla had done. Pages 284-285, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993.
A "world system" for "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon the electrical conductivity of the earth was proposed in which transmission in various natural media with current that passes between the two points are used to power devices. In a practical wireless energy transmission system using this principle, a high-power ultraviolet beam might be used to form a vertical ionized channel in the air directly above the transmitter-receiver stations. The same concept is used in virtual lightning rods, the electrolaser electroshock weapon, A Survey of Laser Lightning Rod Techniques. Barnes, Arnold A., Jr.; Berthel, Robert O.
and has been proposed for disabling vehicles. Frequently Asked Questions. HSV Technologies Vehicle Disabling Weapon by Peter A. Schlesinger, President, HSV Technologies, Inc. NDIA Non-Lethal Defense IV 20â22 Mar 2000
Tesla demonstrated "the transmission of electrical energy without wires" that depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891. The Tesla effect (named in honor of Tesla) is a term for an application of this type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Norrie, H. S., "Induction Coils: How to make, use, and repair them". Norman H. Schneider, 1907, New York. 4th edition.
Wireless transmission of power and energy demonstration during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891
On 30 July 1891, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of 35. Tesla established his 35 South Fifth Avenue laboratory in New York during this same year. Later, Tesla would establish his Houston Street laboratory in New York at 46 E. Houston Street. There, at one point while conducting mechanical resonance experiments with electro-mechanical oscillators he generated a resonance of several surrounding buildings but, because of the frequencies involved, not his own building, causing complaints to the police. As the speed grew he hit the resonant frequency of his own building and, belatedly realizing the danger, he was forced to apply a sledgehammer to terminate the experiment, just as the astonished police arrived. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 162â164
He also lit electric lamps wirelessly at both of the New York locations, providing evidence for the potential of wireless power transmission. Krumme, Katherine, Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla: Thunder and Lightning. 4 December 2000 (PDF)
Some of Tesla's closest friends were artists. He befriended Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson, who adapted several Serbian poems of Jovan JovanoviÄ Zmaj (which Tesla translated). Also during this time, Tesla was influenced by the Vedic philosophy (i. e. Hinduism) teachings of the Swami Vivekananda; so much so, that after his exposure to Hindu-Vedic thought, Tesla started using Sanskrit words to name some of his fundamental concepts regarding matter and energy. Grotz, Toby, " The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy".
When Tesla was 36 years old, the first patents concerning the polyphase power system were granted. He continued research of the system and rotating magnetic field principles. Tesla served, from 1892 to 1894, as the vice president of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the forerunner (along with the Institute of Radio Engineers) of the modern-day IEEE. From 1893 to 1895, he investigated high frequency alternating currents. He generated AC of one million volts using a conical Tesla coil and investigated the skin effect in conductors, designed tuned circuits, invented a machine for inducing sleep, cordless gas discharge lamps, and transmitted electromagnetic energy without wires, building the first radio transmitter. In St. Louis, Missouri, Tesla made a demonstration related to radio communication in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail its principles. Tesla's demonstrations were written about widely through various media outlets. Tesla also investigated harvesting energy that is present throughout space. He believed that it was just merely a question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature, stating:
Nikola Tesla's AC dynamo used to generate AC which is used to transport electricity across great distances. It is contained in .
At the 1893 World's Fair, the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, an international exposition was held which for the first time devoted a building to electrical exhibits. It was a historic event as Tesla and George Westinghouse introduced visitors to AC power by using it to illuminate the Exposition. On display were Tesla's fluorescent lamps and single node bulbs. An observer noted:
Tesla also explained the principles of the rotating magnetic field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg made of copper stand on end in his demonstration of the device he constructed known as the "Egg of Columbus".
Also in the late 1880s, Tesla and Edison became adversaries in part because of Edison's promotion of direct current (DC) for electric power distribution over the more efficient alternating current advocated by Tesla and Westinghouse. Until Tesla invented the induction motor, AC's advantages for long distance high voltage transmission were counterbalanced by the inability to operate motors on AC. As a result of the "War of Currents", Edison and Westinghouse went nearly bankrupt, so in 1897, Tesla released Westinghouse from contract, providing Westinghouse a break from Tesla's patent royalties. Also in 1897, Tesla researched radiation which led to setting up the basic formulation of cosmic rays. Waser, André, "Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays".
When Tesla was 41 years old, he filed the first basic radio patent ( ). A year later, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the US military, believing that the military would want things such as radio-controlled torpedoes. Tesla claimed to have developed the "Art of Telautomatics", a form of robotics, as well as the technology of remote control. Tesla, Nikola, " My Inventions", Electrical Experimenter magazine, Feb, June, and Oct, 1919. ISBN ( also "The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla" at rastko.org) In 1898, he demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Tesla called his boat a "teleautomaton". Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light ISBN 0-375-75884-4. Page 355, referencing O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (New York: David McKay, 1944), p. 167. Radio remote control remained a novelty until the 1960s. In the same year, Tesla devised an "electric igniter" or spark plug for Internal combustion gasoline engines. He gained , "Electrical Igniter for Gas Engines", on this mechanical ignition system. Tesla lived in the former Gerlach Hotel, renamed The Radio Wave building, at 49 W 27th St. (between Broadway and Sixth Avenue), Lower Manhattan, before the end of the century where he conducted the radio wave experiments. A commemorative plaque was placed on the building in 1977 to honor his work.
Publicity picture of a participant sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying Transmitter" generating millions of volts. The arcs are about 7 meters (23 ft) long. (Tesla's notes identify this as a multiple exposure photograph.)
An experiment in Colorado Springs. This bank of lights is receiving power from a distant transmitter
A Colorado Springs experiment: here a grounded tuned coil in resonance with a distant transmitter illuminates a light near the bottom of the picture.
In 1899, Tesla decided to move and began research in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he would have room for his high-voltage, high-frequency experiments. Upon his arrival he told reporters that he was conducting wireless telegraphy experiments transmitting signals from Pikes Peak to Paris. Tesla's diary contains explanations of his experiments concerning the ionosphere and the ground's telluric currents via transverse waves and longitudinal waves. Tesla, Nikola, "The True Wireless". Electrical Experimenter, May 1919. ( also at pbs.org)
At his lab, Tesla proved that the earth was a conductor, and he produced artificial lightning (with discharges consisting of millions of volts, and up to 135 feet long). Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "Dictionary of Scientific Biography"; Tesla, Nikola. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. ISBN
Tesla also investigated atmospheric electricity, observing lightning signals via his receivers. Reproductions of Tesla's receivers and coherer circuits show an unpredicted level of complexity (e.g., distributed high-Q helical resonators, radio frequency feedback, crude heterodyne effects, and regeneration techniques). Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, "Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors". 1994.
Tesla stated that he observed stationary waves during this time. Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, "Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves". 1994.
Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the Earth's surface and the KennellyâHeaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).
In Colorado, Tesla carried out various long distance power transmission experiments. Tesla effect is the application of a type of electrical conduction (that is, the movement of energy through space and matter; not just the production of voltage across a conductor). Through longitudinal waves, Tesla transferred energy to receiving devices. He sent electrostatic forces through natural media across a conductor situated in the changing magnetic flux and transferred power to a conducting receiving device (such as Tesla's wireless bulbs).
In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio communications coming from Venus or Mars. Tesla, Nikola, " Talking with Planets". Collier's Weekly, 19 February 1901. (EarlyRadioHistory.us)
He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned before this event and many times after that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with, or that the signals Tesla observed may have simply been an observation of a non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for his next project, the establishment of a wireless power transmission facility that would be known as Wardenclyffe. Tesla was granted for the means of increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations. The United States Patent Office classification system currently assigns this patent to the primary Class 178/43 ("telegraphy/space induction"), although the other applicable classes include 505/825 ("low temperature superconductivity-related apparatus").
In 1900, with US$150,000 (51 % from J. Pierpont Morgan), Tesla began planning the Wardenclyffe Tower facility. In June 1902, Tesla's lab operations were moved to Wardenclyffe from Houston Street. The tower was finally dismantled for scrap during World War I. Newspapers of the time labeled Wardenclyffe "Tesla's million-dollar folly". In 1904, the US Patent Office reversed its decision and awarded Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio, and Tesla began his fight to re-acquire the radio patent. On his 50th birthday in 1906, Tesla demonstrated his 200 hp (150 kW) 16,000 rpm bladeless turbine. During 1910â1911 at the Waterside Power Station in New York, several of his bladeless turbine engines were tested at 100â5000 hp.
Since the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Marconi for radio in 1909, Thomas Edison and Tesla were mentioned as potential laureates to share the Nobel Prize of 1915 in a press dispatch, leading to one of several Nobel Prize controversies. Some sources have claimed that because of their animosity toward each other neither was given the award, despite their enormous scientific contributions, and that each sought to minimize the other one's achievements and right to win the award, that both refused to ever accept the award if the other received it first, and that both rejected any possibility of sharing it. O'Neill, "Prodigal Genius" pp 228â229
In the following events after the rumors, neither Tesla nor Edison won the prize (although Edison did receive one of 38 possible bids in 1915, and Tesla did receive one bid out of 38 in 1937). Seifer, "Wizard" pp 378â380
Earlier, Tesla alone was rumored to have been nominated for the Nobel Prize of 1912. The rumored nomination was primarily for his experiments with tuned circuits using high-voltage high-frequency resonant transformers.
In 1915, Tesla filed a lawsuit against Marconi attempting, unsuccessfully, to obtain a court injunction against Marconi's claims. After Wardenclyffe, Tesla built the Telefunken Wireless Station in Sayville, Long Island. Some of what he wanted to achieve at Wardenclyffe was accomplished with the Telefunken Wireless. In 1917, the facility was seized and torn down by the Marines, because it was suspected that it could be used by German spies.
The Wardenclyffe Tower facility
Before World War I, Tesla looked overseas for investors to fund his research. When the war started, Tesla lost the funding he was receiving from his patents in European countries. After the war ended, Tesla made predictions regarding the relevant issues of the post-World War I environment, in a printed article (20 December 1914). Tesla believed that the League of Nations was not a remedy for the times and issues. Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in the years following. He became obsessed with the number three; he often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity, and this undoubtedly hurt what was left of his reputation.
At this time, he was staying at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. Eventually, the Wardenclyffe deed was turned over to George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, to pay a US$20,000 debt. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished by Boldt to make the land a more viable real estate asset, Tesla received AIEE's highest honor, the Edison Medal.
Tesla, in August 1917, first established principles regarding frequency and power level for the first primitive radar units. Page, R.M., "The Early History of RADAR", Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
In 1934, Ãmile Girardeau, working with the first French radar systems, stated he was building said systems "conceived according to the principles stated by Tesla". By the 1920s, Tesla was reportedly negotiating with the United Kingdom government about a ray system. Tesla had also stated that efforts had been made to steal the so called "death ray". It is suggested that the removal of the Chamberlain government ended negotiations.
On Tesla's 75th birthday in 1931, Time magazine put him on its cover. The cover caption noted his contribution to electrical power generation. Tesla received his last patent in 1928 for an apparatus for aerial transportation which was the first instance of VTOL aircraft. By the end of 1931, Tesla released "On Future Motive Power" which covered an ocean thermal energy conversion system. In 1934, Tesla wrote to consul JankoviÄ of his homeland. The letter contained a message of gratitude to Mihajlo Pupin who had initiated a donation scheme by which American companies could support Tesla. Tesla refused the assistance, choosing instead to live on a modest pension received from Yugoslavia, and to continue his research.
In 1936, Tesla wrote in a telegram to Vladko MaÄek: "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." Tesla telegram to Vladko MaÄek
When he was 81, Tesla stated he had completed a "dynamic theory of gravity". He stated that it was "worked out in all details" and that he hoped to soon give it to the world. Prepared Statement by Nikola Tesla downloadable from www.tesla.hu
The theory was never published.
The bulk of the theory was developed between 1892 and 1894, during the period that he was conducting experiments with high frequency and high potential electromagnetism and patenting devices for their use. Reminiscent of Mach's principle, Tesla stated in 1925 that:
Nikola Tesla, with RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ's book Theoria Philosophiae Naturalis, sits in front of the spiral coil of his high-frequency transformer at East Houston Street, New York.
Tesla was critical of Einstein's relativity work, calling it:
Tesla also argued:
Tesla also believed that much of Albert Einstein's relativity theory had already been proposed by RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ, stating in an unpublished interview:
Later in life, Tesla made remarkable claims concerning a "teleforce" weapon. "Tesla's Ray". Time, 23 July 1934. The press called it a "peace ray" or death ray. "Tesla, at 78, Bares New 'Death-Beam"', New York Times, 11 July 1934. "Tesla Invents Peace Ray". New York Sun, 10 July 1934. In total, the components and methods included: "Death-Ray Machine Described", New York Sun, 11 July 1934. "A Machine to End War". Feb. 1935.
*An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past. This, according to Tesla in 1934, was accomplished.
*A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force. This, according to Tesla, was also accomplished.
*A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
*A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention.
Tesla worked on plans for a directed-energy weapon from the early 1900s until his death. In 1937, Tesla composed a treatise entitled "The Art of Projecting Concentrated Non-dispersive Energy through the Natural Media" concerning charged particle beams. Seifer, Marc J., "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla". ISBN (HC) p. 454
Tesla published the document in an attempt to expound on the technical description of a "superweapon that would put an end to all war". This treatise of the particle beam is currently in the Nikola Tesla Museum archive in Belgrade. It described an open ended vacuum tube with a gas jet seal that allowed particles to exit, a method of charging particles to millions of volts, and a method of creating and directing nondispersive particle streams (through electrostatic repulsion). Seifer, "Wizard" p. 454
His records indicate that it was based on a narrow stream of atomic clusters of liquid mercury or tungsten accelerated via high voltage (by means akin to his magnifying transformer). Tesla gave the following description concerning the particle gun's operation:
The weapon could be used against ground based infantry or for antiaircraft purposes. "'Death Ray' for Planes". New York Times, 22 September 1940. Tesla tried to interest the US War Department in the device. "Aerial Defense 'Death-Beam' Offered to U. S. By Tesla" 12 July 1940 He also offered this invention to European countries. O'Neill, John J., " Tesla Tries To Prevent World War II". (unpublished Chapter 34 of Prodigal Genius) (PBS) None of the governments purchased a contract to build the device. He was unable to act on his plans. Velox, Particle beam weapon. everything2.com
Another of Tesla's theorized inventions is commonly referred to as Tesla's Flying Machine, which appears to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft. The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla By Nikola Tesla, David Hatcher Childress. p. 256. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without the use of an airplane engine, wings, ailerons, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla pondered about the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by grounded base stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that perhaps such an aircraft could be run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would typically take the form of a cigar or saucer. The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla. by Tim Swartz. Inner Light â Global Communications (October 15, 2000). Also see bibliotecapleyades.net .
Tesla's father Milutin Tesla
Tesla was fluent in many languages. Along with Serbian, he spoke seven other languages: Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin.
Tesla may have suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kerryr.net
and had many unusual quirks and phobias. He did things in threes, and was adamant about staying in a hotel room with a number divisible by three. Tesla was also noted to be physically revolted by jewelry, notably pearl earrings. He was fastidious about cleanliness and hygiene, and was by all accounts mysophobic.
Tesla was obsessed with pigeons, ordering special seeds for the pigeons he fed in Central Park and even bringing some into his hotel room with him. Tesla was an animal-lover, often reflecting contentedly about a childhood cat, "The Magnificent MaÄak." Tesla never married. He was celibate and claimed that his chastity was very helpful to his scientific abilities. Nonetheless there have been numerous accounts of women vying for Tesla's affection, even some madly in love with him. Tesla, though polite, behaved rather ambivalently to these women in the romantic sense.
Tesla was prone to alienating himself and was generally soft-spoken. However, when he did engage in a social life, many people spoke very positively and admiringly of him. Robert Underwood Johnson described him as attaining a "distinguished sweetness, sincerity, modesty, refinement, generosity, and force." His loyal secretary, Dorothy Skerrit, wrote: "his genial smile and nobility of bearing always denoted the gentlemanly characteristics that were so ingrained in his soul." Tesla's friend Hawthorne wrote that "seldom did one meet a scientist or engineer who was also a poet, a philosopher, an appreciator of fine music, a linguist, and a connoisseur of food and drink."
Nevertheless, Tesla displayed the occasional cruel streak; he openly expressed his disgust for overweight people, once firing a secretary because of her weight. He was quick to criticize others' clothing as well, on several occasions demanding a subordinate to go home and change her dress.
Tesla was widely known for his great showmanship, presenting his innovations and demonstrations to the public as an artform, almost like a magician. This seems to conflict with his observed reclusiveness; Tesla was a complicated figure. He refused to hold conventions without his Tesla coil blasting electricity throughout the room, despite the audience often being terrified, though he assured them everything was perfectly safe.
Mark Twain in Tesla's lab, spring 1894
In middle age, Tesla became very close friends with Mark Twain. They spent a lot of time together in his lab and elsewhere.
Tesla remained bitter in the aftermath of his incident with Edison. The day after Edison died the New York Times contained extensive coverage of Edison's life, with the only negative opinion coming from Tesla, who was quoted as saying: Shortly before he died, Edison said that his biggest mistake had been in trying to develop direct current, rather than the vastly superior alternating current system that Tesla had put within his grasp.
Tesla was good friends with Robert Underwood Johnson. He had amicable relations with Francis Marion Crawford, Stanford White, Fritz Lowenstein, George Scherff, and Kenneth Swezey. He ripped up a Westinghouse contract that would have made him the world's first billionaire, in part because of the implications it would have on his future vision of free power, and in part because it would run Westinghouse out of business, and Tesla had no desire to deal with the creditors.
Tesla lived the last ten years of his life in a two-room suite on the 33rd floor of the Hotel New Yorker, room 3327. There, near the end of his life, Tesla showed signs of encroaching mental illness, claiming to be visited by a specific white pigeon daily. Several biographers note that Tesla viewed the death of the pigeon as a "final blow" to himself and his work.
Tesla believed that war could not be avoided until the cause for its recurrence was removed, but was opposed to wars in general. Secor, H. Winfield, " Tesla's views on Electricity and the War", Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
He sought to reduce distance, such as in communication for better understanding, transportation, and transmission of energy, as a means to ensure friendly international relations. " Giant Eye to See Round the World" Albany Telegram, 25 February 1923 (doc).
Like many of his era, Tesla, a life-long bachelor, became a proponent of a self-imposed selective breeding version of eugenics. In a 1937 interview, he stated:
In 1926, Tesla commented on the ills of the social subservience of women and the struggle of women toward gender equality, indicated that humanity's future would be run by "Queen Bees". He believed that women would become the dominant sex in the future. Kennedy, John B., " When woman is boss, An interview with Nikola Tesla". Colliers, 30 January 1926.
In his later years Tesla became a vegetarian. In an article for Century Illustrated Magazine he wrote: "It is certainly preferable to raise vegetables, and I think, therefore, that vegetarianism is a commendable departure from the established barbarous habit." Tesla argued that it is wrong to eat uneconomic meat when large numbers of people are starving; he also believed that plant food was "superior to [meat] in regard to both mechanical and mental performance". He also argued that animal slaughter was "wanton and cruel". Nikola Tesla, " The Problem of Increasing Human Energy". Century Illustrated Magazine, June 1900.
In his final years he suffered from extreme sensitivity to light, sound and other influences. Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla by John Jacob O'Neill ISBN 978-0914732334
Tesla died of heart failure alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, on 7 January 1943. Despite having sold his AC electricity patents, Tesla died with significant debts on the books. Later that year the US Supreme Court upheld Tesla's patent number 645576, in effect recognizing him as the inventor of radio.
Bust of Tesla by Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, 1952, in Zagreb, Croatia
Soon after his death Tesla's safe was opened by his nephew Sava KosanoviÄ. Shortly thereafter Tesla's papers and other property were empounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office in Tesla's compound at the Manhattan Warehouse, even though he was a naturalized citizen.
Dr. John G. Trump was the main government official that went over Tesla's secret papers after his death in 1943. At the time, Dr. Trump was a well-known electrical engineer serving as a technical aide to the National Defense Research Committee of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, Technical Aids, Div. 14, NTRC (predecessor agency to the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence). Dr. John G. Trump was also a professor at M.I.T., and had his feelings hurt by Tesla's 1938 review and critique of M.I.T.'s huge Van de Graaff generator with its two thirty-foot towers and two 15-foot diameter balls, mounted on railroad tracksâwhich Tesla showed could be out-performed in both voltage and current by one of his tiny coils about two feet tall. Page 278, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993 . Dr. Trump was asked to participate in the examination of Tesla's papers at the Manhattan Warehouse & Storage Co. Dr. Trump reported afterwards, that no examination had been made of the vast amount of Tesla's property, that had been in the basement of the New Yorker Hotel, ten years prior to Tesla's death, or of any of his papers, except those in his immediate possession at the time of his death. Dr. Trump concluded in his report, that there was nothing that would constitute a hazard in unfriendly hands. /ref>
At the time of his death, Tesla had been working on the Teleforce weapon, or 'death ray,' that he had unsuccessfully marketed to the US War Department. It appears that Teleforce was related to his research into ball lightning and plasma, and was conceived as a particle beam weapon. The US government did not find a prototype of the device in the safe.
After the FBI was contacted by the War Department, his papers were declared to be top secret. The personal effects were sequestered on the advice of presidential advisers; J. Edgar Hoover declared the case most secret, because of the nature of Tesla's inventions and patents. Hoover, John Edgar, et al. One document stated that "[he] is reported to have some 80 trunks in different places containing transcripts and plans having to do with his experiments [...]". Altogether, in Tesla's effects, there were the contents of his safe, two truckloads of papers and apparati from his hotel, another 75 packing crates and trunks in a storage facility, and another 80 large storage trunks in another storage facility. The Navy and several "federal officials" spent two days microfilming some of the stuff at the Office of Alien Properties storage facility in 1943, and that was it, until Oct., 1945 [....] Pages 278-279, William R. Lyne, Pentagon Aliens, 1993
Tesla's family and the Yugoslav embassy struggled with the American authorities to gain these items after his death because of the potential significance of some of his research. Eventually Mr. KosanoviÄ won possession of the materials, which are now housed in the Nikola Tesla Museum. Nikola Tesla Museum
Tesla's funeral took place on 12 January 1943, at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City. His body was cremated and his ashes taken to Belgrade, Serbia, then-Yugoslavia in 1957. The urn was placed in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where it resides to this day.
Statue of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls State Park on Goat Island, New York.
Plaque honoring Nikola Tesla at New Yorker Hotel in New York City.
He did not like posing for portraits, doing so only once for princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy. The portrait survived in the collection of Ludwig Nissen, Brooklyn, see: Klaus Lengsfeld: Sammlung Ludwig Nissen : Husum 1855 â 1924 New York; Dokumentation d. Kunstsammlung Ludwig Nissens anlässl. d. Ausstellung zu seinem 125. Geburtstag im Nissenhaus zu Husum, 1980, 169 Pages. (= Schriften des Nordfriesischen Museums Ludwig-Nissen-Haus, Nr. 16) His wish was to have a sculpture made by his close friend, Croatian sculptor Ivan MeÅ¡troviÄ, who was at that time in United States, but he died before getting a chance to see it. MeÅ¡troviÄ made a bronze bust (1952) that is held in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and a statue (1955/56) placed at the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute in Zagreb. This statue was moved to Nikola Tesla Street in Zagreb's city centre on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth, with the RuÄer BoÅ¡koviÄ Institute to receive a duplicate.
In 1976, a bronze statue of Tesla was placed at Niagara Falls, New York. A similar statue was also erected in his hometown of GospiÄ in 1986.
The SI unit tesla (T) for measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction) was named in Teslaâs honor at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris in 1960. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) of which Tesla had been vice president also created an award in recognition of Tesla. Called the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, it is given to individuals or a team that has made outstanding contributions to the generation or utilization of electric power, and is considered the most prestigious award in the area of electric power. IEEE, " IEEE Nikola Tesla Award. 1 April 2005.
The crater Tesla on the far side of the Moon and the minor planet 2244 Tesla are also named after him.
20 Serbian dinar coin minted in 2006
Tesla was featured on several Yugoslav- and Serbian dinar notes and coinage. The largest power plant complex in Serbia, the TPP Nikola Tesla is named in his honor. On 10 July 2006 the biggest airport in Serbia was renamed Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in honor of Teslaâs 150th birthday.
The company, Tesla was a large, state-owned electrotechnical conglomerate in the former Czechoslovakia. It was renamed in Tesla's honor from the previous Electra on 7 March 1946. Some of its subsidiaries still trade in the Czech Republic.
An electric car company, Tesla Motors, named their company in tribute to Tesla. Their website states: The namesake of our Tesla Roadster is the genius Nikola Tesla [...] Weâre confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our car and nod his head with both understanding and approval. Why the Name "Tesla"?, Tesla Motors, Inc., 2006
The Croatian subsidiary of Ericsson is also named 'Ericsson Nikola Tesla d.d'. ('Nikola Tesla' was a telephone hardware company in Zagreb before Ericsson bought it in the 1990s) in honor of Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communication.
The year 2006 was celebrated by UNESCO as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla, scientist , as well as being proclaimed by the governments of Croatia and Serbia to be the Year of Tesla. On this anniversary, 10 July 2006, the renovated village of Smiljan (which had been demolished during the wars of the 1990s) was opened to the public along with Tesla's house (as a memorial museum) and a new multimedia center dedicated to the life and work of Tesla. The parochial church of St. Peter and Paul, where Tesla's father had held services, was renovated as well. The museum and multimedia center are filled with replicas of Tesla's work. The museum has collected almost all of the papers ever published by, and about, Tesla; most of these provided by Ljubo Vujovic from the Tesla Memorial Society.
in New York. Alongside Tesla's house, a monument created by sculptor Mile BlaževiÄ has been erected. In the nearby city of GospiÄ, on the same date as the reopening of the renovated village and museums, a higher education school named Nikola Tesla was opened, and a replica of the statue of Tesla made by Frano KrÅ¡iniÄ (the original is in Belgrade) was presented.
The song "Tesla's Hotel Room" by the Handsome Family, on their 2006 album Last Days of Wonder, is a fictionalized account of Tesla's later years at the New Yorker hotel.
Google honoured Tesla on his birthday on the 10th of July 2009 by displaying a doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a tesla coil.
The heavy metal group Tesla, which made famous the rock-ballad "Love Song", was named after Nikola Tesla.
The famous Serbian composer-singer Željko JoksimoviÄ composed in 2006 the instrumental song "Nikola Tesla", vocals by Jelena TomaÅ¡eviÄ for a documentary film on Radio Television of Serbia. This song was released in 2008 at the Balkan ethnic collection âBalkan Routes Vol. 01: Nikola Teslaâ which is dedicated to Tesla.
In the years since his death, many of his innovations, theories and claims have been used, at times unsuitably and controversially, to support various fringe theories that are regarded as unscientific. Most of Tesla's own work conformed with the principles and methods accepted by science, but his extravagant personality and sometimes unrealistic claims, combined with his unquestionable genius, have made him a popular figure among fringe theorists and believers in conspiracies about "hidden knowledge". Even in Tesla's time, some believed that he was actually an angelic being from Venus sent to Earth to reveal scientific knowledge to humanity. This belief is maintained in present times by followers of Nuwaubianism.
Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, Serbia
A monument to Tesla was established at Niagara Falls, New York, USA. This monument, portraying Tesla reading a set of notes, is a copy of a monument standing in front of the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Another monument to Tesla, featuring him standing on a portion of an alternator, was established at Queen Victoria Park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Tesla Memorial Society of New York | Tesla Monument in Canada The monument was officially unveiled on Sunday, 9 July 2006 on the 150th anniversary of Tesla's birth. The monument was sponsored by St. George Serbian Church, Niagara Falls, and designed by Les Drysdale of Hamilton, Ontario. Mr. Drysdale's design was the winning design from an international competition. Tesla's most famous statue is the one erected on 23 May 1879 at Sycamore Peak showing him and Dr. Brian S. Whitecross. Belgrade International Airport is called "Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport".
Nikola Tesla has appeared in popular culture as a character in books, films, radio, TV, music, live theatre, comics and video games. The lack of recognition received by Tesla during his own lifetime has made him a tragic and inspirational character well suited to dramatic fiction. Tesla has particularly been seen in science fiction where his inventions are well suited. The impact of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla is a recurring theme in several types of science-fiction.
Image:Serbian 500din Tesla 1978-a king.jpg|500 Yugoslav dinars (1978). HF transformer coil in the background
Image:Serbia 1000din Tesla 1992-a king.jpg|1,000 Yugoslav dinars (1992)
Image:Serbia 10mlrd Tesla 1993-a king.jpgâ|10,000,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1993)
Image:Serbia 5din Tesla 1994-a king.jpgâ|5 new Yugoslav dinars (1994)
Image:Tesla.jpg|100 Serbian dinars (2007)
-->
* List of Tesla patents
* Electrical Experimenter
* Timeline of low-temperature technology
* Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn, Tesla, Master of Lightning, published by Barnes & Noble, 1999. ISBN 0760710058.
* Germano, Frank, Dr. Nikola Tesla. Frank. Germano.com.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man who Invented the Twentieth Century. Lecture to South Western Branch of Instititute of Physics.
* Martin, Thomas Commerford, The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894 (3rd Ed.); reprinted by Barnes & Noble, 1995 ISBN-X
* O'Neill, John J., Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola, 1944. ISBN (Tesla reportedly said of this biographer "You understand me better than any man alive"; also the version at uncletaz.com with other items at uncletaz's site)
* Penner, John R.H. The Strange Life of Nikola Tesla, corrupted version of "My Inventions".
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* Nikola Tesla. IEEE History Center, 2005.
* Seifer, Marc J. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla; Biography of a Genius, Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN
* Weisstein, Eric W., Tesla, Nikola (1856â1943). Eric Weisstein's World of Science.
* Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Moon Nomenclature: Crater. USGS, Astrogeology Research Program.
* Dimitrijevic, Milan S., Belgrade Astronomical Observatory Historical Review. Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade,), 162â170. Also, Srpski asteroidi, Tesla. Astronomski magazine.
* Hoover, John Edgar, et al., FOIA FBI files, 1943.
* Pratt, H., Nikola Tesla 1856â1943, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 44, September, 1956.
* W.C. Wysock, J.F. Corum, J.M. Hardesty and K.L. Corum, Who Was The Real Dr. Nikola Tesla? (A Look At His Professional Credentials). Antenna Measurement Techniques Association, posterpaper, October 22â25, 2001 (PDF)
* Roguin, Ariel, Historical Note: Nikola Tesla: The man behind the magnetic field unit. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:369â374. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
* Sellon, J. L., The impact of Nikola Tesla on the cement industry. Behrent Eng. Co., Wheat Ridge, CO. Cement Industry Technical Conference. 1997. XXXIX Conference Record., 1997 IEEE/PC. Page(s) 125â133. ISBN
* Valentinuzzi, M.E., Nikola Tesla: why was he so much resisted and forgotten? Inst. de Bioingenieria, Univ. Nacional de Tucuman; Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE. July/August 1998, 17:4, pp. 74â75. ISSN
* Waser, André, Nikola Teslaâs Radiations and the Cosmic Rays. (PDF)
* Secor, H. Winfield, Tesla's views on Electricity and the War, Electrical Experimenter, Volume 5, Number 4, August, 1917.
* Florey, Glen, Tesla and the Military. Engineering 24, 5 December 2000.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, Nikola Tesla, Lightning Observations, and Stationary Waves. 1994.
* Corum, K. L., J. F. Corum, and A. H. Aidinejad, Atmospheric Fields, Tesla's Receivers and Regenerative Detectors. 1994.
* Meyl, Konstantin, H. Weidner, E. Zentgraf, T. Senkel, T. Junker, and P. Winkels, Experiments to proof the evidence of scalar waves Tests with a Tesla reproduction. Institut für Gravitationsforschung (IGF), Am Heerbach 5, D-63857 Waldaschaff.
* Anderson, L. I., John Stone Stone on Nikola Teslaâs Priority in Radio and Continuous Wave Radiofrequency Apparatus. The Antique Wireless Association Review, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 18â41.
* Anderson, L. I., Priority in Invention of Radio, Tesla v. Marconi. Antique Wireless Association monograph, March 1980.
* Marincic, A., and D. Budimir, Tesla's contribution to radiowave propagation. Dept. of Electron. Eng., Belgrade Univ. (5th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Service, 2001. TELSIKS 2001. pp. 327â331 vol.1) ISBN-X
* Page, R.M., The Early History of Radar, Proceedings of the IRE, Volume 50, Number 5, May, 1962, (special 50th Anniversary Issue).
* C Mackechnie Jarvis Nikola Tesla and the induction motor. 1970 Phys. Educ. 5 280â287.
* Giant Eye to See Round the World (DOC)
* Nichelson, Oliver, Nikola Tesla's Latter Energy Generation Designs, A description of Tesla's energy generator that "would not consume fuel." 26th IECEC Proceedings, 1991, Boston, MA (American Nuclear Society) Vol. 4, pp. 433â438.
* Nichelson, Oliver, The Thermodynamics of Tesla's Fuelless Electrical generator. A theory of the physics of Tesla's new energy generator. (American Chemical Society, 1993. 2722-5/93/0028-63)
* Toby Grotz, The Influence of Vedic Philosophy on Nikola Tesla's Understanding of Free Energy.
right
* A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers, American Institute of Electrical Engineers, May 1888.
* Selected Tesla Writings, Scientific papers and articles written by Tesla and others, spanning the years 1888â1940.
* Light Without Heat, The Manufacturer and Builder, January 1892, Vol. 24
* Biography: Nikola Tesla, The Century Magazine, November 1893, Vol. 47
* Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions, The Century Magazine, November 1894, Vol. 49
* The New Telegraphy. Recent Experiments in Telegraphy wih Sparks, The Century Magazine, November 1897, Vol. 55
* Tesla, Nikola, "My Inventions" Parts I through V published in the Electrical Experimenter monthly magazine from February through June, 1919. Part VI published October, 1919. Reprint edition with introductory notes by Ben Johnson, New York: Barnes and Noble,1982, ISBN; also online at Lucid Cafe, et cetera as , 1919. ISBN
* Martin, Thomas C., The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1894 . ISBN-X
* Tesla, Nikola, Colorado Springs Notes, 1899â1900, ISBN-X
* Anderson, Leland I., Dr. Nikola Tesla (1856â1943), 2d enl. ed., Minneapolis, Tesla Society. 1956.
* Ratzlaff, John and Leland Anderson, Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography, Ragusan Press, Palo Alto, California, 1979, 237 pages. Extensive listing of articles about and by Nikola Tesla.
* O'Neill, John Jacob, Prodigal Genius, 1944. Paperback reprint 1994, ISBN 978-0914732334. (ed. Prodigal Genius is available online)
* Cheney, Margaret, , 1981. ISBN 0139068597.
* Seifer, Marc J., Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, 1998. ISBN (HC), ISBN (SC)
* Jonnes, Jill . New York: Random House, 2003. ISBN
* Auster, Paul, Moon Palace, 1989. Tells Tesla's story within the history of the United States.
* Lomas, Robert, The Man Who Invented the Twentieth Century: Nikola Tesla, forgotten genius of electricity, 1999. ISBN
* Childress, David H., The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla, 1993. ISBN
* Glenn, Jim, The Complete Patents of Nikola Tesla, 1994. ISBN
* Trinkaus, George TESLA: The Lost Inventions, High Voltage Press, 2002. ISBN 09-7096-182-0
* Valone, Thomas, , 2002. ISBN
* Carlson, W. Bernard, "Inventor of dreams". Scientific American, March 2005 Vol. 292 Issue 3 p. 78(7).
* Jatras, Stella L., "The genius of Nikola Tesla". The New American, 28 July 2003 Vol. 19 Issue 15 p. 9(1)
* Rybak, James P., "Nikola Tesla: Scientific Savant". Popular Electronics, 1042170X, November 1999, Vol. 16, Issue 11.
* Lawren, B., "Rediscovering Tesla". Omni, March 1988, Vol. 10 Issue 6.
* There are at least two films describing Tesla's life. In the first, filmed in 1977, arranged for TV, Tesla was portrayed by Rade Å erbedžija. In 1980, Orson Welles produced a Yugoslav film named Tajna Nikole Tesle (The Secret of Nikola Tesla), in which Welles himself played the part of Tesla's patron, J.P. Morgan. The film was directed by Krsto PapiÄ, and Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Petar BožoviÄ.
* " Tesla: Master of Lightning". 1999. ISBN (Book) ISBN (PBS Video)
* Lost Lightning: The Missing Secrets of Nikola Tesla (at Google Video.) Tesla's designs for free energy and defensive weapons systems.
* David Bowie portrayed Tesla in the 2006 film The Prestige. Tesla's time in Colorado Springs was the focus of several scenes in the film, which featured speculations on the explosive power of Tesla's electrical experiments.
* Tesla: Master of Lightning, produced by Robert Uth for New Voyage Communications in 2003, tapped Stacy Keach to supply the voice of Tesla.
*
* The Nikola Tesla Museum
* Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls Power
* Tesla Resource Surrounding the PBS "Master of Lightning" documentary
* World of Scientific Biography: Nikola Tesla, by Wolfram Research
* Nikola Tesla Page
* Tesla's grand-nephew William H. Terbo's site
* Nikola Tesla, Forgotten American Scientist
* Tesla Wardenclyffe Project, Long Island New York. Mission is the adaptive reuse of the Wardenclyffe laboratory building.
* Nikola Tesla's Father: Milutin Tesla
* Tesla: The European Years
* Tesla's Case File at The Franklin Institute containing information about his 1894 Franklin Award for research in high-frequency phenomena
* Dr. James Corum's Tesla Engineering Papers, from Arcs 'N Sparks.
* Fred Walters' hand-scanned Tesla patents (PDFs)
* Jim Bieberich's The Complete Nikola Tesla U.S. Patent Collection
* Online archive of many of Tesla's writings, articles and published papers
* Seifer, Marc J., and Michael Behar, Electric Mind, Wired Magazine, October 1998.
*
* Nikola Tesla on various Yugoslavian and Serbian banknotes.
* Nikola Tesla's FBI file in pdf
* Nikola Tesla Complete Patents in pdf
* Kenneth M. Swezey Papers, 1891â1982, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, archival resources.
* The Case Files of Nikola Tesla, Franklin Institute
|
Norman_Rockwell | Consequently, what is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch? | Rockwell | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Who spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine? | Norman Rockwell. | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | When was his last painting for the Post published? | 1963 | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | When did Rockwell marry his first wife, Irene O'Connor,? | In 1916. | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Did Norman Rockwell spend the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art as well as Design? | Yes | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Did Norman Rockwell publish a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years? | Yes. | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Was Rockwell also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer as well as Huckleberry Finn? | Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Do his works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades? | yes | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Are among the best-known of Rockwell's works the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series? | Yes. | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Norman_Rockwell | Is he also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)? | yes | data/set6/a4 | Norman_Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. About the Saturday Evening Post Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.
Norman Rockwell was born on February 3, 1894, in New York City to Jarvis Waring and Ann Mary Rockwell.
He had one brother, Jarvis Rockwell. Norman transferred from high school to the Chase Art School at the age of 14. He then went on to the National Academy of Design and finally to the Art Students League. There, he was taught by Thomas Fogarty, George Bridgman, and Frank Vincent Dumond; his early works were produced for St. Nicholas Magazine, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) publication Boys' Life and other juvenile publications. Joseph Csatari carried on his legacy and style for the BSA.
As a student, Rockwell was given smaller, less important jobs. His first major breakthrough came in 1912 at age eighteen with his first book illustration for Carl H. Claudy's Tell Me Why: Stories about Mother Nature.
In 1913, the nineteen-year old Rockwell became the art editor for Boys' Life, published by the Boy Scouts of America, a post he held for three years (1913 1916). As part of that position, he painted several covers, beginning with his first published magazine cover, Scout at Ship's Wheel, appearing on the Boys' Life September 1913 edition.
Scout at Ship's Wheel, 1913
During the First World War, he tried to enlist into the U.S. Navy but was refused entry because, at 6 feet (1.83 m) tall and 140 pounds (64 kg), he was eight pounds underweight. To compensate, he spent one night gorging himself on bananas, liquids and doughnuts, and weighed enough to enlist the next day. However, he was given the role of a military artist and did not see any action during his tour of duty.
Freedom of Speech
Rockwell's family moved to New Rochelle, New York at age 21 and shared a studio with the cartoonist Clyde Forsythe, who worked for The Saturday Evening Post. With Forsythe's help, he submitted his first successful cover painting to the Post in 1916, Mother's Day Off (published on May 20). He followed that success with Circus Barker and Strongman (published on June 3), Gramps at the Plate (August 5), Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (September 16), People in a Theatre Balcony (October 14) and Man Playing Santa (December 9). Rockwell was published eight times total on the Post cover within the first twelve months. Norman Rockwell published a total of 321 original covers for The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
Rockwell's success on the cover of the Post led to covers for other magazines of the day, most notably The Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life Magazine.
Rockwell married his first wife, Irene O'Connor, in 1916. Irene was Rockwell's model in Mother Tucking Children into Bed, published on the cover of The Literary Digest on January 19, 1921. However, the couple divorced in 1930. He quickly married schoolteacher Mary Barstow, with whom he had three children: Jarvis Waring, Thomas Rhodes and Peter Barstow. The family lived at 24 Lord Kitchener Road in the Bonnie Crest neighborhood of New Rochelle, New York. Rockwell and his wife were not very religious, although they were members of âSt. John's Wilmot Church, an Episcopal church near their home, and had their sons baptized there as well. Rockwell moved to Arlington, Vermont in 1939 where his work began to reflect small-town life. In 1953, the Rockwell family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, so that his wife could be treated at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital at 25 Main Street, down Main Street from where Rockwell set up his studio. Norman Rockwellâs American Dream, by David Kamp, Vanity Fair, November 2009 Rockwell himself received psychiatric treatment from the renowned analyst Eric Erikson, who was on staff at Riggs. Erikson is said to have told the artist that he painted his happiness, but did not live it. . In 1959, Mary Barstow Rockwell died unexpectedly. In 1961, Rockwell married Molly Punderson, a retired teacher.
The rear of Norman Rockwell's preserved studio.
In 1943, during the Second World War, Rockwell painted the Four Freedoms series, which was completed in seven months and resulted in his losing 15 pounds. The series was inspired by a speech by Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom to Worship, and Freedom from Fear. The paintings were published in 1943 by The Saturday Evening Post. The U.S. Treasury Department later promoted war bonds by exhibiting the originals in 16 cities. Rockwell himself considered "Freedom of Speech" to be the best of the four. That same year a fire in his studio destroyed numerous original paintings, costumes, and props.
Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing. King Features Syndicate is reported to have promised a $1,000/week deal, knowing that a Capp-Rockwell collaboration would gain strong public interest. However, the project was ultimately aborted as it turned out that Rockwell, known for his perfectionism as an artist, could not deliver material as fast as required of him for a daily comic strip. Elliott Caplin: Al Capp Remembered (1994)
During the late 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent the winter months as artist-in-residence at Otis College of Art and Design. Students occasionally were models for his Saturday Evening Post covers. In 1949, Rockwell donated an original Post cover, "April Fool," to be raffled off in a library fund raiser.
In 1959, his wife Mary died unexpectedly, and Rockwell took time off from his work to grieve. It was during this break that he and his son Thomas produced his autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, which was published in 1960. The Post printed excerpts from this book in eight consecutive issues, the first containing Rockwell's famous Triple Self-Portrait.
Norman Rockwell
Rockwell married his third wife, retired Milton Academy English teacher, Molly Punderson, in 1961. His last painting for the Post was published in 1963, marking the end of a publishing relationship that had included 322 cover paintings. He spent the next 10 years painting for Look magazine, where his work depicted his interests in civil rights, poverty and space exploration.
During his long career, he was commissioned to paint the portraits for Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as those of foreign figures, including Gamal Abdel Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru. One of his last works was a portrait of legendary singer Judy Garland in 1969.
A custodianship of 574 of his original paintings and drawings was established with Rockwell's help near his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the museum is still open today year round. For "vivid and affectionate portraits of our country," Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the United States of America's highest civilian honor.
Rockwell died November 8, 1978 of emphysema at age 84 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. First Lady Rosalynn Carter attended his funeral.
His first Scouting calendar (1925)
Norman Rockwell was very prolific, and produced over 4,000 original works, most of which have been either destroyed by fire or are in permanent collections. Rockwell was also commissioned to illustrate over 40 books including Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. His annual contributions for the Boy Scouts' calendars between 1925 and 1976 (Rockwell was a 1939 recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America Official List of Silver Buffalo award Recipients (accessed July 17, 2007) ), were only slightly overshadowed by his most popular of calendar works: the "Four Seasons" illustrations for Brown & Bigelow that were published for 17 years beginning in 1947 and reproduced in various styles and sizes since 1964. Illustrations for booklets, catalogs, posters (particularly movie promotions), sheet music, stamps, playing cards, and murals (including "Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "God Bless the Hills", which was completed in 1936 for the Nassau Inn in Princeton, New Jersey) rounded out Rockwell's Åuvre as an illustrator.
The Problem We All Live With
Rockwell's work was dismissed by serious art critics in his lifetime. Windolf, Jim; "Keys to the Kingdom"; vanityfair.com; February 2008 Many of his works appear overly sweet in modern critics' eyes, Solomon, Deborah, In Praise of Bad Art, The New York Times especially the Saturday Evening Post covers, which tend toward idealistic or sentimentalized portrayals of American life this has led to the often-deprecatory adjective "Rockwellesque." Consequently, Rockwell is not considered a "serious painter" by some contemporary artists, who often regard his work as bourgeois and kitsch. Writer Vladimir Nabokov sneered that Rockwell's brilliant technique was put to "banal" use, and wrote in his book Pnin: "That Dalà is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by Gypsies in babyhood". He is called an "illustrator" instead of an artist by some critics, a designation he did not mind, as it was what he called himself. Art of Illustration, Norman Rockwell Museum
Beyond the Easel, 1969 calendar
However, in his later years, Rockwell began receiving more attention as a painter when he chose more serious subjects such as the series on racism for Look magazine. Norman Rockwell Wins Medal of Freedom, Mass Moments One example of this more serious work is The Problem We All Live With, which dealt with the issue of school integration. The painting depicts a young African American girl, Ruby Bridges, flanked by white federal marshals, walking to school past a wall defaced by racist graffiti.
In 1999, The New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl said of Rockwell in ArtNews: âRockwell is terrific. Itâs become too tedious to pretend he isnât.â
Rockwell's work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2001. Norman Rockwell at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Rockwell's Breaking Home Ties sold for $15.4 million at a 2006 Sothebyâs auction. A twelve-city U.S. tour of Rockwell's works took place in 2008.
Cover of October 1920 issue of Popular Science magazine
*In the film Empire of the Sun, a young boy (played by Christian Bale), is put to bed by his loving parents in a scene also inspired by a Rockwell painting a reproduction of which is later kept by the young boy during his captivity in a prison camp. (Freedom from Fear, 1943). Gates, Anita, Looking Beyond the Myth-Making Easel of Mr. Thanksgiving, The New York Times
*The 1994 film Forrest Gump includes a shot in a school that re-creates Rockwell's "Girl with Black Eye" with young Forrest in place of the girl. Much of the film drew heavy visual inspiration from Rockwell's art. Corliss, Richard, The World According to Gump, TIME
*In the film Lilo & Stitch, the end credits include a parody of Rockwell's Thanksgiving illustration. The participants in the dinner include three aliens, a native Hawaiian woman and child, and an African-American man. (Freedom from Want, 1943).
*The 1988 film Funny Farm featured a scheme concocted by a homeowner (played by Chevy Chase) where redneck townsfolk are bribed to act like the characters of Norman Rockwell's paintings to create the illusion of ideal small-town American life, making the area more appealing to prospective buyers.
*In the film The Polar Express, there appears one of the Rockwells' Saturday Evening Post covers, The Discovery (Boy Discovering Santa Suit).
*Film director George Lucas owns Rockwell's original of The Peach Crop, and his colleague Steven Spielberg owns a sketch of Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait. Each of the artworks hangs in the respective filmmakers' workspaces. Rockwell is a major character in an episode of Lucasâ Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, âPassion for Life.â
*In 2005, there was great controversy when Target Co. sold Marshall Field's to Federated Department Stores and the Federated discovered a reproduction of Rockwell's The Clock Mender, which depicted the great clocks of the Marshall Field and Company Building on display. Rockwell had donated the painting depicted on the cover of the November 3, 1945 Saturday Evening Post to the store in 1948.
*A Thanksgiving dinner scene in director Ridley Scott's 2007 film American Gangster emulates Rockwell's classic painting "Freedom from Want".
*Stand-up comedian Christopher Titus performed a one-man show early in his career entitled "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding," which revolved around the comedian's dysfunctional childhood and family. He chose the title based on his experiences being at odds with the idealized images of Rockwell's works.
*Writer Dean Koontz describes a scene of a boy and his dog sitting side by side surfing the internet as a Norman Rockwell moment of the twenty-first century in his novel Relentless.
* Scout at Ship's Wheel (1913) (first published magazine cover illustration, Boys' Life, September 1913)
* Santa and Scouts in Snow (1913)
* Boy and Baby Carriage (1916) (First Saturday Evening Post Cover)
* Circus Barker and Strongman (1916)
* Gramps at the Plate (1916)
* Redhead Loves Hatty Perkins (1916)
* People in a Theatre Balcony (1916)
* Tain't You (1917) (First Life magazine cover)
* Cousin Reginald Goes to the Country (1917) (First Country Gentleman cover)
* Santa and Expense Book (1920)
* Mother Tucking Children into Bed (1921) (first Wife Irene Is the Model)
The Rookie, one of many Saturday Evening Post covers
* No Swimming (1921)
* Santa with Elves (1922)
* Doctor and Doll (1929)
* The Four Freedoms (1943)
** Freedom of Speech (1943)
** Freedom to Worship (1943)
** Freedom from Want (1943)
** Freedom from Fear (1943)
* Rosie the Riveter (1943)
* Going and Coming (1947)
* Bottom of the Sixth (1949)
* Saying Grace (1951)
* The Young Lady with the Shiner (1953)
* Girl at Mirror (1954)
* Breaking Home Ties (1954)
* The Marriage License (1955)
* The Scoutmaster (1956)
* The Runaway (1958)
* Triple Self-Portrait (1960)
* Golden Rule (1961)
* The Problem We All Live With (1964)
* Southern Justice (Murder in Mississippi) (1965)
* New Kids in the Neighborhood (1967)
* The Rookie
* Spirit of 76 (1976) (stolen in 1978 but recovered in 2001 by the FBI's Robert King Wittman)
* Russian Schoolroom
* Norman Rockwell Museum, home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art
* Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)
* Norman Rockwell's World... An American Dream, a 1972 short documentary film
* James K. Van Brunt, a frequent model for Rockwell
* National Museum of American Illustration
* The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, album cover Graphic Artist Norman Rockwell
*
*
*
*
*
* Norman Rockwell WWII posters, hosted by the University of North Texas Libraries Digital Collections
* Gallery of classic graphic design featuring the illustrations of Normal Rockwell.
* Art Directors Club biography, portrait and images of work
*
* Norman Rockwell artwork can be viewed at American Art Archives web site
* "A Portrait of the Artist as a Dirty Old Man." Boston Globe article
|
Octopus | Is the octopus a cephalopod? | Yes, the octopus is a cephalopod. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Is the octopus a cephalopod? | Yes, the octopus is a cephalopod. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Does the octopus have two eyes? | Yes, the octopus has two eyes. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Does the octopus have two eyes? | Yes, the octopus has two eyes. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Does the octopus have a hard beak? | Yes, the octopus has a hard beak. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Does the octopus have a hard beak? | Yes, the octopus has a hard beak. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Where is the mouth of an octopus? | The mouth of an octopus is at the center point of the arms. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Where is the mouth of an octopus? | The octopus' mouth is at the center point of the arms. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Around how many recognized octopus species are there? | There are around 300 recognized octopus species. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | Around how many recognized octopus species are there? | There are around 300 recognized octopus species. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | How many arms does an octopus have? | An octopus has four pairs of arms. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | How many arms does an octopus have? | The octopus has four pairs of arms. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | What is the range of lifespans of the octopus? | Octopuses can live from six months to five years. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | What is the range of lifespans of the octopus? | The octopus has a short lifespan. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | What is an example of something an octopus learned in a research experiment? | In research experiments, octopus can be trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Octopus | What is an example of something an octopus learned in a research experiment? | An octopus learned to solve mazes. | data/set1/a10 | Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms and like other cephalopods are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans. Unimelb.edu.au, Tentacles of venom: new study reveals all octopuses are venomous, University of Melbourne, Media Release, Wednesday 15 April 2009
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris)
Octopuses are characterized by their eight arms, usually bearing suction cups. The arms of octopuses are often distinguished from the pair of feeding tentacles found in squid and cuttlefish. Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 15. "There is some confusion around the terms arms versus tentacles. The numerous limbs of nautiluses are called tentacles. The ring of eight limbs around the mouth in cuttlefish, squids and octopuses are called arms. Cuttlefish and squid also have a pair of specialised limbs attached between the bases of the third and fourth arm pairs [...]. These are known as feeding tentacles and are used to shoot out and grab prey." Both types of limbs are muscular hydrostats. Unlike most other cephalopods, the majority of octopuses those in the suborder most commonly known, Incirrina have almost entirely soft bodies with no internal skeleton. They have neither a protective outer shell like the nautilus, nor any vestige of an internal shell or bones, like cuttlefish or squid. A beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak, is the only hard part of their body. This enables them to squeeze through very narrow slits between underwater rocks, which is very helpful when they are fleeing from morays or other predatory fish. The octopuses in the less familiar Cirrina suborder have two fins and an internal shell, generally reducing their ability to squeeze into small spaces.
An octopus moving between tide pools during low tide
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy, and some species live for as little as six months. Larger species, such as the North Pacific Giant Octopus, may live for up to five years under suitable circumstances. However, reproduction is a cause of death: males can only live for a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. They neglect to eat during the (roughly) one month period spent taking care of their unhatched eggs, but they don't die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically-programmed death (and if these glands are surgically removed, the octopus may live many months beyond reproduction, until she finally starves).
Stauroteuthis syrtensis, a finned octopus of the suborder Cirrina
Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin for transporting oxygen. Although less efficient under normal conditions than the iron-rich hemoglobin of vertebrates, in cold conditions with low oxygen pressure, hemocyanin oxygen transportation is more efficient than hemoglobin oxygen transportation. The hemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within red blood cells and gives the blood a blue color. Octopuses draw water into their mantle cavity where it passes through its gills. As mollusks, octopuses have gills that are finely divided and vascularized outgrowths of either the outer or the inner body surface.
Octopuses are highly intelligent, likely more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, NFW.org?, Is the octopus really the invertebrate intellect of the sea, by Doug Stewart. In: National Wildlife. Feb/Mar 1997, vol.35 no.2.
Giant OctopusâMighty but Secretive Denizen of the Deep Slate.com, How Smart is the Octopus? but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, although this remains largely unproven. They learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.
An octopus opening a container with a screw cap
An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses in their higher brain are not organized using an internal somatotopic map of its body. Zullo L, Sumbre G, Agnisola C, Flash T, Hochner B. (2009). Nonsomatotopic organization of the higher motor centers in octopus.
Curr Biol. 19(19):1632-6. PMID 19765993 Some octopuses, such as the Mimic Octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, Octopus intelligence: jar opening although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. What is this octopus thinking?. By Garry Hamilton. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. What behavior can we expect of octopuses?. By Dr. Jennifer Mather, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge and Roland C. Anderson, The Seattle Aquarium. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.
In some countries, octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. United Kingdom Animals (Scientific Procedures) act of 1986
The octopus is the only invertebrate which has been conclusively shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the Veined Octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. This discovery was documented in the journal Current Biology and has also been caught on video. /ref> /ref>
Greater Blue-ringed Octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)
An octopus's main (primary) defense is to hide, either not to be seen at all, or not to be detected as an octopus. Hanlon, R.T. & J.B. Messenger 1996. Cephalopod Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Octopuses have several secondary defenses (defenses they use once they have been seen by a predator). The most common secondary defense is fast escape. Other defenses include the use of ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs.
Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour. This ink cloud is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid an octopus's evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might serve as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead. Caldwell, R. L. (2005). "An Observation of Inking Behavior Protecting Adult Octopus bocki from Predation by Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Hatchlings." Pacific Science 59(1): 69â72.
This small octopus species travels with shells it has collected for protection.
An octopus's camouflage is aided by certain specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked. Octopuses can use muscles in the skin to change the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. In some species the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises. However in some species skin anatomy is limited to relatively patternless shades of one color, and limited skin texture. It is thought that octopuses that are day-active and/or live in complex habitats such as coral reefs have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and/or sand-dwelling relatives.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators.
A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels. Norman, M.D., J. Finn & T. Tregenza (2001). Proceedings of the Royal Society 268: 1755â1758. Norman, M.D. & F.G.Hochberg (2005). The "Mimic Octopus" (Thaumoctopus mimicus n. gen. et sp.), a new octopus from the tropical Indo-West Pacific (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae). Molluscan Research 25: 57â70. Abstract
/ref>-->
When octopuses reproduce, males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not hunt during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs and may ingest some of her own arms for sustenance. At around the time the eggs hatch, the mother leaves the lair and is too weak to defend herself from predators like cod, often succumbing to their attacks. The young larval octopuses spend a period of time drifting in clouds of plankton, where they feed on copepods, larval crabs and larval starfish until they are ready to descend to the ocean bottom, where the cycle repeats. This is a dangerous time for the larval octopuses; in the plankton cloud they are vulnerable to plankton eaters. In some deeper dwelling species, the young do not go through this period.
Eye of Octopus vulgaris
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Octopuses, like other cephalopods, can distinguish the polarization of light. Color vision appears to vary from species to species, being present in Octopus aegina but absent in Octopus vulgaris Kawamura, G., et al. (2001). . Nippon Suisan Gakkashi 67(1): 35â39. . Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. An octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. Wells. Martin John. Octopus: physiology and behaviour of an advanced invertebrate. London : Chapman and Hall ; New York : distributed in the U.S.A. by Halsted Press, 1978.
The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually.
Octopuses swim headfirst, with arms trailing behind
Octopuses move about by crawling or swimming. Their main means of slow travel is crawling, with some swimming. Jet propulsion is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and walking. Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus, C.L. Huffard 2006
They crawl by walking on their arms, usually on many at once, on both solid and soft surfaces, while supported in water. In 2005 it was reported that some octopuses (Adopus aculeatus and Amphioctopus marginatus under current taxonomy) can walk on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. Science, vol. 307, p. 1927 This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator while possibly not triggering that predator's search image for octopus (food). Octopuses lack bones and are extremely vulnerable to predators.
Octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from a contractile mantle, and aiming it via a muscular siphon.
An adult North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini
The North Pacific Giant Octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini, is often cited as the largest octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg (33 lb), with an arm span of up to 4.3 m (14 ft). Smithsonian National Zoological Park: Giant Pacific Octopus The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg (156.5 lb). Cosgrove, J.A. 1987. Aspects of the Natural History of Octopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. M.Sc. Thesis. Department of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), 101 pp. The alternative contender is the Seven-arm Octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, based on a 61 kg (134 lb) carcass estimated to have a live mass of 75 kg (165 lb). O'Shea, S. 2004. The giant octopus Haliphron atlanticus (Mollusca : Octopoda) in New Zealand waters. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31(1): 7-13. O'Shea, S. 2002. Haliphron atlanticus â a giant gelatinous octopus. Biodiversity Update 5: 1. However, there are a number of questionable size records that would suggest E. dofleini is the largest of all octopus species by a considerable margin; Norman, M. 2000. Cephalopods: A World Guide. ConchBooks, Hackenheim. p. 214. one such record is of a specimen weighing 272 kg (600 lb) and having an arm span of 9 m (30 ft). High, W.L. 1976. The giant Pacific octopus. U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, Marine Fisheries Review 38(9): 17-22.
The term octopus, , is from Greek (oktapous), "eight-footed", Oktapous, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus Scientific Latin from Greek (also ) "eight-footed" > or [combination form of "eight"] and "foot". Cf. Modern Greek with plural forms: octopuses , octopi , or octopodes . Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the US as well as the UK; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objectionable. Peters, Pam (2004). The Cambridge Guide to English Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62181-X, p. 388.
The Oxford English Dictionary (2004 update OED.com (subscription required). Retrieved October 22, 2007. ) lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order); it labels octopodes "rare", and notes that octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is a Latinization of Greek third-declension masculine ( , 'eight-foot'), plural ( ). If the word were native to Latin, it would be , plural , after the pattern of ('foot'), plural , analogous to "Centipede" . The actual Latin word for octopus and other similar species is , from Greek ( , 'many-foot'); usually the inaccurate plural is used instead of .
In modern Greek, the word is ( ), plural ( ), from Medieval ( ), equivalent to Classical ( ), variant of .
Chambers 21st Century Dictionary Chambersharrap.co.uk, Retrieved October 19, 2007. and the Compact Oxford Dictionary Askoxford.com, Retrieved October 19, 2007. list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is "still occasionally used"; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster's New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order).
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that "the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses," and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic.
The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.
Moche Octopus. 200 A.D. Larco Museum Collection Lima, Peru
Ancient peoples of the Mediterranean were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs of prehistory. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. C. Michael Hogan. 2007 Knossos fieldnotes, The Modern Antiquarian
The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped the sea and its animals; moreover, octopuses were often depicted in their art. Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. New York: Thames and Hudson, 199 7.
The Hawaiian creation myth relates that the present cosmos is only the last of a series, having arisen in stages from the wreck of the previous universe. In this account, the octopus is the lone survivor of the previous, alien universe.
The octopus has a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea).
alt=Photo of dozens of octopus in metal bins
Humans eat octopus in many cultures. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species.
Octopus is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine, including sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food. Similarly, a live octopus may be sliced up and the legs eaten while still squirming, which continues for some minutes.
alt=Photo of captured octopus and polespear
Octopus is eaten regularly in Hawaii, since many popular dishes are Asian in origin. Locally known by their Hawaiian or Japanese names, ("he'e" and "tako" respectively) octopus is also a popular fish bait.
Octopus is a common food in Mediterranean cuisine and Portuguese cuisine. In Galicia, polbo á feira (market fair style octopus) is a local delicacy. Restaurants which specialize or serve this dish are known as pulperÃas. On the Tunisian island of Djerba, local people catch octopuses by taking advantage of the animals' habit of hiding in safe places during the night. In the evening they put grey ceramic pots on the sea bed. The morning of the following day they check them for octopuses that sheltered there.
According to the USDA Nutrient Database (2007), cooked octopus contains approximately 139 calories per three ounce portion, and is a source of vitamin B3, B12, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium. Octopus Calories And Nutrition
Care must be taken to boil the octopus properly, to rid it of slime, smell, and residual ink.
Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure.
The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on its species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.
Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks. Archived Google video of an octopus catching a shark, from The Octopus Show by Mike deGruy
A fisherman's catch of octopus dries in the sun
* Class CEPHALOPODA
** Subclass Nautiloidea: nautilus
** Subclass Coleoidea
*** Superorder Decapodiformes: squid, cuttlefish
*** Superorder Octopodiformes
**** Order Vampyromorphida: Vampire Squid
**** Order Octopoda
***** Genus â Keuppia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Palaeoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Paleocirroteuthis (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Pohlsepia (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Proteroctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Genus â Styletoctopus (incertae sedis)
***** Suborder Cirrina: finned deep-sea octopus
****** Family Opisthoteuthidae: umbrella octopus
****** Family Cirroteuthidae
****** Family Stauroteuthidae
***** Suborder Incirrina
****** Family Amphitretidae: telescope octopus
****** Family Bolitaenidae: gelatinous octopus
****** Family Octopodidae: benthic octopus
****** Family Vitreledonellidae: Glass Octopus
****** Superfamily Argonautoida
******* Family Alloposidae: Seven-arm Octopus
******* Family Argonautidae: argonauts
******* Family Ocythoidae: Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus
******* Family Tremoctopodidae: blanket octopus
* Octopus wrestling
* Legend of the Octopus
* Henry the Hexapus, a six-armed octopus
* CephBase: Octopoda
* TONMO.COM - The Octopus News Magazine Online
* Tree of Life website: information about cephalopods along with pictures and videos
* Discussion about the plural
* An octopus's shark encounter - footage of an octopus eating a shark ( also in Quicktime format)
* Camouflage in action
* Video showing an Octopus escaping through a 1 inch hole
* Bipedal Octopuses- Video, Information, Original paper
*
* Video of walking octopuses
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.