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Authors: Nigel Cawthorne
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energized all the balls would be set spinning, the large one remaining in the centre while the small ones revolved around it, like moons about a planet, gradually receding until they reached the outer guard and raced along the same field.
But the demonstration which most impressed the audiences was the simultaneous operation of numerous balls, pivoted discs and other devices placed in all sorts of positions and at considerable distances from the rotating field. When the currents were turned on and the whole animated with motion, it presented an unforgettable spectacle. Mr Tesla had many vacuum bulbs in which small, light metal discs were pivotally arranged on jewels and these would spin anywhere in the hall when the iron ring was energized.
The Columbian Exposition had proved to its 28 million visitors that AC was safe. From then on, over 80 per cent of all electrical devices bought in the US worked on alternating current.
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Teslaâs Famous Friends
As a result, Tesla was proclaimed âOur Foremost Electricianâ and hailed as the âNew Edisonâ. But Teslaâs health was failing again, due to overwork. Teslaâs friend, Thomas Commerford Martin introduced him to socialites Robert and Katherine Underwood Johnson who took him under their wing. Tesla began calling them âthe Filipovsâ after a Serbian poem, Luka Filipov , he had translated for them. Robert Johnson was associate editor of the prestigious Century magazine that ran a new profile of Tesla.
His regular dinners with the Johnsons, particularly those at Thanksgiving and Christmas, became the closest thing he knew to home life. He would arrive in a hansom cab, which would have to wait outside for hours to take him back to his hotel which was only a few blocks away. The Johnsons were the only people with whom he was on first-name terms, except for the railroad-heir William âWillieâ K. Vanderbilt (1849 â 1920) who would let Tesla use the Vanderbilt box at the Metropolitan Opera House. Apart from opera, Tesla enjoyed theatrical comedies, particularly those featuring actress Elsie Ferguson who, he said, âknew how to dress and was the most graceful woman he had ever seen on the stageâ. Gradually, he stopped going to the opera and the theatre, going to the movies instead.
It was through the Johnsons that Tesla met the writer Mark Twain , who was an admirer. Tesla told Twain that his books had saved his life when he was a boy of 12, struck down with a bout of malaria. This, apparently, brought tears to the authorâs eyes.
Visiting Teslaâs laboratory, Twain asked whether the inventor could come up with a high-frequency electrotherapy machine that he could sell to rich widows in Europe on his next visit. Tesla said he already had a machine that would aid their digestion. It vibrated in sympathy with the peristaltic waves that moved food through the gut. Enthusiastic, Twain insisted that he tried it out. It worked â too well â and sent the great writer dashing for the lavatory.
âI think I will start with the electrotherapy machine,â said Twain when he returned. âI wouldnât want the widows to get too healthy all in one shot.â
The Johnsons also introduced Tesla to the hero of the Spanish-American War, Richmond Pearson Hobson , who became a life-long friend, naturalist John Muir , who invited him out to Yosemite Valley, and writer Rudyard Kipling , who had come to live in Vermont. After dining with the author in 1901, Tesla wrote to Mrs Johnson: âWhat is the matter with ink-spiller Kipling? He actually dared to invite me to dine in an obscure hotel where I would be sure to get hair and cockroaches in the soup.â
With Twain and other notables in the laboratory, the first photographs under phosphorescent light were taken. However, despite his overwork, Tesla refused to accept the Johnsonsâ invitation to take a holiday with them at their home at the Hamptons on
But the demonstration which most impressed the audiences was the simultaneous operation of numerous balls, pivoted discs and other devices placed in all sorts of positions and at considerable distances from the rotating field. When the currents were turned on and the whole animated with motion, it presented an unforgettable spectacle. Mr Tesla had many vacuum bulbs in which small, light metal discs were pivotally arranged on jewels and these would spin anywhere in the hall when the iron ring was energized.
The Columbian Exposition had proved to its 28 million visitors that AC was safe. From then on, over 80 per cent of all electrical devices bought in the US worked on alternating current.
Â
Teslaâs Famous Friends
As a result, Tesla was proclaimed âOur Foremost Electricianâ and hailed as the âNew Edisonâ. But Teslaâs health was failing again, due to overwork. Teslaâs friend, Thomas Commerford Martin introduced him to socialites Robert and Katherine Underwood Johnson who took him under their wing. Tesla began calling them âthe Filipovsâ after a Serbian poem, Luka Filipov , he had translated for them. Robert Johnson was associate editor of the prestigious Century magazine that ran a new profile of Tesla.
His regular dinners with the Johnsons, particularly those at Thanksgiving and Christmas, became the closest thing he knew to home life. He would arrive in a hansom cab, which would have to wait outside for hours to take him back to his hotel which was only a few blocks away. The Johnsons were the only people with whom he was on first-name terms, except for the railroad-heir William âWillieâ K. Vanderbilt (1849 â 1920) who would let Tesla use the Vanderbilt box at the Metropolitan Opera House. Apart from opera, Tesla enjoyed theatrical comedies, particularly those featuring actress Elsie Ferguson who, he said, âknew how to dress and was the most graceful woman he had ever seen on the stageâ. Gradually, he stopped going to the opera and the theatre, going to the movies instead.
It was through the Johnsons that Tesla met the writer Mark Twain , who was an admirer. Tesla told Twain that his books had saved his life when he was a boy of 12, struck down with a bout of malaria. This, apparently, brought tears to the authorâs eyes.
Visiting Teslaâs laboratory, Twain asked whether the inventor could come up with a high-frequency electrotherapy machine that he could sell to rich widows in Europe on his next visit. Tesla said he already had a machine that would aid their digestion. It vibrated in sympathy with the peristaltic waves that moved food through the gut. Enthusiastic, Twain insisted that he tried it out. It worked â too well â and sent the great writer dashing for the lavatory.
âI think I will start with the electrotherapy machine,â said Twain when he returned. âI wouldnât want the widows to get too healthy all in one shot.â
The Johnsons also introduced Tesla to the hero of the Spanish-American War, Richmond Pearson Hobson , who became a life-long friend, naturalist John Muir , who invited him out to Yosemite Valley, and writer Rudyard Kipling , who had come to live in Vermont. After dining with the author in 1901, Tesla wrote to Mrs Johnson: âWhat is the matter with ink-spiller Kipling? He actually dared to invite me to dine in an obscure hotel where I would be sure to get hair and cockroaches in the soup.â
With Twain and other notables in the laboratory, the first photographs under phosphorescent light were taken. However, despite his overwork, Tesla refused to accept the Johnsonsâ invitation to take a holiday with them at their home at the Hamptons on
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