The InventArtist: Brilliant Personality and Research Method

“Despite the numerous technical achievements we are facing, humankind needs to solve social, moral and spiritual problems”.

Tesla's Personal BagNikola Tesla Museum

A gentleman

Tesla was a tall gentleman with impeccable posture, clear skin and deep set gray eyes. His dark hair was parted in the middle and combed back tightly so that every hair was in its proper place. His features were well formed and he had the appearance of being a well-born gentleman.

He was meticulously groomed in conservative style, wearing gray silk gloves, usually carrying a walking stick over his arm.

Tesla on Arrival to AmericaNikola Tesla Museum

When he spoke, a certain stillness pervaded the atmosphere. He appeared as a soldier who awaits for his command.

Tesla was a modest man, with a keen sense of humor. His soft spoken and assuring voice held the listener’s attention. In conversations he would often use poems as illustrations for the story.

Tesla's HatsNikola Tesla Museum

Tesla's Bulb IllustrationNikola Tesla Museum

A Brilliant Mind

One of Tesla’s strangest abilities was the ability to create mental images. He would imagine a picture of any object, device or machine, with great precision, and then move the parts, change scale or enlarge or compress the image at will.

Tesla's Sketch of Induction MotorNikola Tesla Museum

Material from Tesla's OfficeNikola Tesla Museum

He was known for arriving at solutions simply and quickly, without using complicating mathematical tools. For Tesla, calculations and mathematics were merely a tool for inventing, not the essence.

Seal embossing press with a logo of the Tesla Machine Company, From the collection of: Nikola Tesla Museum
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Tesla believed that all phenomena, whether in nature, society or the individual, function on the principle of a hidden mechanism.

This attitude essentially determined the direction of his philosophical considerations related to human existence and activities.

Dinner with BoxersNikola Tesla Museum

A Loner

Tesla’s character was more of a loner. Most of the time he would spend in solitude of his thoughts and ideas. On occasions, he would socialize with people dear to him – he was well known in various circles of distinguished individuals - from poets to professional boxers.

Tesla with an Unknown LadyNikola Tesla Museum

Richmond Person Hobson's dedication to Tesla, From the collection of: Nikola Tesla Museum
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Books from Tesla's Personal LibraryNikola Tesla Museum

A great man is one who, with his intellectual gifts and capacity, transcends other people, who, as a bee collects honey, collects knowledge and discovers new truths, but crowns all that with love for mankind in order to help it as quickly as possible to escape from the miseries which oppress it – fear, hunger, ignorance, disease.

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla in His 60’s, in His New York LaboratoryNikola Tesla Museum

The abilities ascribed only to the genius, Tesla believed are inherent in all people. The inability of most people to express their potential stems from an inappropriate way of life, upbringing an education, because many of these abilities are systematically neglected from the earliest childhood.

Tesla Holding a BookNikola Tesla Museum

Tesla and his spiral oscillating transformerNikola Tesla Museum

An Artist

For Tesla, there were two periods in human life.

One is the period in which we work, and the other in which we rest. Thus, in the course of the day there should be two basic meals: one meal which should provide energy for the day’s work, and the other should supply the body with the material from which it will be invigorated during the sleeping hours...

Therapy OscillatorNikola Tesla Museum

Tesla had his personal therapy oscillator always with him and held a peculiar collection of different measurement instruments. They can be all seen now in Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

At the door of his laboratory, smilingNikola Tesla Museum

He was a vegetarian, who drank milk regularly and avoided coffee, tea and tobacco, but recommended a glass of alcohol a day.

Every meal should consist of proteins and fats. Proteins serve as the fabric of the body, and fats give energy through burning...

In the morning it is necessary to take greasy food, especially fats and oils, because this is needed for work. In the evening it is the turn of the protein food because this is necessary for the building of the body’s cells...

DedicationNikola Tesla Museum

Physical exercise and healthy sleep, together with diet, are the most important factors in maintaining good health, according to Tesla.

In his opinion it is the quality, not the length, of sleep which is an important part of replenishing energy in the daily cycle.

Nikola Tesla in his fortiesNikola Tesla Museum

When I sleep, I sleep artistically. It is an art, as is the deep breathing of air, which must be learned. After such a sleep, I must perform physical exercise in order to balance the newly acquired life force.

Tesla's X-Ray PhotographNikola Tesla Museum

An artist and a genius - Nikola Tesla left his own unique and unforgettable mark in the history of Science.

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The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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