Nikola Tesla

The contemporary alternating current (AC) energy supply system was designed in part by Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist Nikola Tesla.

Tesla, who was born and reared in the Austrian Empire, pursued engineering and physics studies in the 1870s without earning a degree. He gained real-world experience in the early 1880s while working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the fledgling electric power sector. He immigrated to the country in 1884, where he later became a citizen via naturalization. Before going on his own, he spent a brief period of time working at the Edison Machine Works in New York City. Tesla established laboratories and businesses in New York to create a variety of electrical and mechanical devices, with the aid of partners to fund and promote his ideas. He received a sizeable sum of money for his alternating current (AC) induction motor and associated polyphase AC patents, which Westinghouse Electric licensed in 1888. These inventions served as the cornerstone of the polyphase system that Westinghouse Electric subsequently commercialized.

Tesla was a pioneer of his era and one of the finest physicists, but his quirky genius is likely what makes him most famous today. He previously put up a tower system that he said could wirelessly broadcast electricity and signals throughout the globe while drawing energy from the environment. But the project was never finished because his theories were flawed. Additionally, he claimed to have created a "death ray."

Born - Died: 1856-1943

Field: invention, electrical engineers, mechanical, futural

Important contributions: designed the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system, invented a “death ray”