Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla invented many things and held around 300 patents worldwide. Most notable was his conception of alternating current (AC), which is used around the world today to provide electricity to countless homes. Tesla had a great impact on the United States and the Earth in general with his many inventions. For this reason, Tesla has enjoyed considerable emergence in popular culture today, despite dying penniless and alone in a New York apartment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayNikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in modern-day Croatia. Both of his parents were Serbian priests, and Tesla attributed his photographic memory to his mother's genetics and his creativity to her upbringing methods. Throughout his young life, Tesla attended different schools and showed his great abilities, such as his ability to perform integral calculus in his head, which made him top of his class in college. Tesla said it worked "from 3 a.m. to 11 p.m., except Sundays and holidays." However, during his second year of college, he became addicted to gambling and had to drop out at the end of his third year. To hide this, Tesla severed all ties with his family and, after moving out, was eventually hired as chief electrician in 1881 at the Budapest telephone exchange, making many improvements to their equipment. In 1882, Tesla began working for Thomas Edison's company in France, and in 1884 he moved to New York to work more directly with Edison. Tesla solved increasingly difficult problems for Edison and was eventually tasked with redesigning Edison's direct current (DC) generators, with Thomas Edison saying, "You'll make fifty thousand dollars – if you can do it." » which represented more than a million dollars at the time. When Tesla accomplished this task, after a few months, by designing an alternating current, Edison remarked: "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor. » Tesla immediately resigned after this incident and later became a rival of Edison in the DC versus AC debate. After Tesla resigned, he started his own company Tesla Electrical Light & Manufacturing, which installed Tesla-designed lighting systems. When Tesla proposed that the company work on AC systems and motors, investors disagreed and fired him, leaving him penniless to work as a ditch digger for $2 a year. hour. One of the main reasons Tesla's proposal to work on alternating current was so harshly rejected was that Thomas Edison was committed to discrediting Tesla's alternating current so that he could promote his own direct current. To do this, Edison publicly electrocuted animals, including an elephant, to show the dangers of alternating current. This didn't work, however, as alternating current is now used all over the world. Edison's direct current system was extremely inefficient on a large scale, unable to travel more than 2 miles without the need for a direct current power plant. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Tesla Personalized Essay A few years later, he got back to inventing by creating a new company, the Tesla Electric Company. Throughout his years, Tesla invented and.