My Inventions and Other Writings

by Nikola Tesla, Samantha Hunt (Introduction)

Overview

The fascinating autobiography of the legendary inventor behind the radio, wireless energy, robotics, and much more.

Famous for his pioneering contributions to the electronic age, his lifelong feud with Thomas Edison, and his erratic behavior, Nikola Tesla was one of the most brilliant and daring inventors and visionaries of his time. My Inventions is Tesla's autobiography, with meditations on his major discoveries and innovations, including the rotating magnetic field, the magnifying transmitter, and the Tesla coil. This volume also includes three articles by Tesla, as well as an enlightening introduction that discredits many of the myths surrounding the thinker's eccentric life. This rare window into the industrial age's most tragic genius will fascinate historians, scientists, aspiring inventors, and curious fans alike.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143106616
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/27/2011
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	230,540
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was born in Smiljan (modern-day Croatia). He emigrated to America in his youth and became a naturalized citizen in 1891. Tesla lived out the last ten years of his life at the Hotel New Yorker in solitude. He died in debt despite his numerous contributions and patents.

Samantha Hunt is the author of two novels, including The Invention of Everything-about an imagined period in Tesla's life- which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in Tivoli, New York.

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Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Introduction

 

My Inventions

PART I - MY EARLY LIFE

PART II - MY FIRST EFFORTS IN INVENTIONS

PART III - MY LATER ENDEAVORS

PART IV - THE DISCOVERY OF THE TESLA COIL AND TRANSFORMER

PART V - THE MAGNIFYING TRANSMITTER

PART VI - THE ART OF TELAUTOMATICS

 

Other Writings

TESLA WOULD POUR LIGHTNING FROM AIRSHIPS TO CONSUME FOE

THE ACTION OF THE EYE

THE PROBLEM OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY

 

THE STORY OF PENGUIN CLASSICS

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PENGUIN CLASSICS

MY INVENTIONS AND OTHER WRITINGS

NIKOLA TESLA (1856–1943) was born in Smiljan (modern-day Croatia), but traveled to America in his youth and remained there, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1891. During his lifetime, he contributed immensely to the field of electrical engineering and is responsible for alternating current electricity, the bifilar coil, and the bladeless turbine. He was chiefly responsible for the invention of the radio due to his research on wireless communication devices. Although less well known than his contemporaries Edison and Marconi, Tesla surpassed both with his contributions to modern science. Supposedly because of his competitive relationship with Edison—and their mutual inclination to discredit each other at every chance—both were passed over for the Nobel Prize; Marconi received the prize for physics for his invention of radio in 1909 (after Tesla’s death in 1943, his patent on radio was finally upheld by the Supreme Court, a ruling that served as the basis for patented radio technology in the United States). Troubled by phobias and, possibly, obsessive compulsive disorder, Tesla lived out the last ten years of his life in solitude at the Hotel New Yorker. He died in 1943, in debt despite his numerous scientific contributions and patents.

 

SAMANTHA HUNT is the author of two novels, The Seas, for which she received the “5 under 35” Award from the National Book Foundation, and The Invention of Everything Else, short-listed for the Orange Prize for fiction. She writes fiction for The New Yorker and is fascinated by the life of Nikola Tesla, the subject of her novel The Invention of Everything Else.

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First published in Penguin Books 2011

 

 

Introduction copyright © Samantha Hunt, 2011

All rights reserved

 

The original publishers of the selections in this book are cited on page xxi.

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Tesla, Nikola, 1856–1943.
My inventions and other writings / Nikola Tesla ; introduction by Samantha Hunt.
p. cm.

ISBN : 978-1-101-56569-8

1. Tesla, Nikola, 1856–1943. 2. Electrical engineers—United States—Biography. 3. Inventors—United States—Biography. I. Hunt, Samantha. II. Title.

TK140.T4A35 2012
621.3092—dc23
[B] 2011040456