An article from the ‘Ancient Wisdom, Modern Technology’ website;
The following is a short Tesla bio that Thomas Samstag did for school with the topic of “People who have gone against the status quo.”
Nikola Tesla
The Forgotten Father of Today
One of the greatest minds of the 19th and 20th centuries, responsible for today’s modern world, Nikola Tesla is still virtually unknown to today’s textbooks, teachers, and general public. Thinking back to your high school years and looking through an encyclopedia, who do you remember as the inventor of radio? The name that probably comes to mind is Marconi. And if I asked the same about X-rays, you’d probably say Roentgen. And a vacuum tube amp, probably de Forest. While you’re at it, who invented the florescent bulb, neon lights, speedometer, auto ignition system, and the basics behind radar, the electron microscope, and the microwave oven? Chances are you see little, if any, mentions of Tesla. Very few people today have ever even heard of him. The all-around nice guy Thomas Edison made sure of that.
Nikola Tesla was born in Smijlan, Croatia (now Yugoslavia) in 1858. Young Nikola had a great memory and spoke six languages. He spent four years at the Polytechnic Institute at Gratz studying math, physics, and mechanics. The amazing thing about him was that he had a great understanding of electricity (remember that this was at a time when electricity was still at infancy, the electric light bulb hadn’t even been invented yet).
Tesla moved to the United States in 1884. When he arrived, he worked as an assistant to Thomas Edison, then in his late 30’s. Edison had just invented the electric light bulb, but he needed a system to distribute electricity to houses. He designed a DC (direct current) system, but it had many bugs in it. Edison promised Tesla lots of money in bonuses if he could get the bugs out. Tesla took the challenge and ended up saving Edison over $100,000, which was millions of dollars by today’s standards. Edison later refused to keep his promise. Tesla quit not long after that, and Edison spent the rest of his life trying to discredit Tesla (which is the main reason why he is so unknown today).
The Possibility Magazine 