What Do Colorado and Elon Musk Have in Common?
What do Colorado and Elon Musk have in common? The answer is: Nikola Tesla.
Source: SolomonCrowe (iStock)
Tesla, of course, is the name of the Elon Musk company that’s famous for building electric cars. Long before Elon Musk chose that name for his car company, he gained a lot of respect for the inventor that made alternating current (AC) electricity famous.
Source: Napoleon Sarony (Public Domain, c. 1893)
In July 1856, Nikola Tesla was born in what is today Croatia. His mother invented and worked on small household appliances in her spare time. The young Tesla gained his interest in inventing things from her. Tesla went to the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria.
In 1881, Tesla moved to Budapest (Hungary) and got a job with the Central Telephone Exchange. He started as a draftsman and later became the Chief Electrician. He came up with an idea for an induction motor, an industrial-grade motor powered by electricity. Tesla was unable to convince investors to support his project, so he decided to try his luck in America.
In June 1884, he emigrated to New York City. He’d heard there were people there willing to invest in promising inventions. When he arrived in America, he had very little (four cents in his pocket). Because he needed the money, he went to work in the New York factory of one of the most famous inventors in American history: Thomas Edison.
Source: Charles L. Clarke (Public Domain)
Things didn’t work out between Edison and Tesla. Tesla left the Edison company and started working on a competing lightning system to Edison’s that was based on direct current (DC). Tesla’s system was based on alternating current (AC).
Source: New York Newspaper, c. 1890
Tesla filed some patents and his fortunes improved. He started working on a new idea: Wireless electricity. He came to believe he could transmit electricity long distances, across oceans, even through the Earth itself. He thought he needed the right location to generate and then transmit the electricity. He chose Colorado.
Source: S.N. Francis
In May 1899, Tesla loaded his equipment on a train, headed west, and stopped in Colorado Springs. The local newspapers asked Tesla what he intended to do. He told them he was going to transmit electricity from Pikes Peak to Paris, France, a distance of nearly 5,000 miles!
Source: The Colorado Springs Evening Telegraph, May 17, 1899
For nine months, Tesla worked and experimented in Colorado Springs. Many thought the lab was out on the prairie more east of the city. Actually, Tesla’s lab was located closer to the city near East Kiowa Street and North Foote Avenue. There isn’t a historical marker at that location. But a marker was placed nearby at Memorial Park on East Pikes Peak Ave.
Source: The Tesla Collection
Source: Dickenson V. Alley, photographer, Century Magazine
* Tesla later admitted the photo is a double exposure.
How did Tesla’s experiments end? He wasn’t able to transmit electricity from Colorado to France. He was able to send wireless, usable electricity through the earth over 60 feet away from his laboratory. He proved that very high-powered electricity (12 million volts) could be generated and used safely.
In January 1900, Tesla ended his experiments in Colorado and returned to his main laboratory in New York City.
Both Nikola Tesla and the state of Colorado are worthy of more research. Any Curious Onlooker can’t go wrong finding out more about both!
Some Tesla facts to get the curious started….
- He was born during a lightning storm.
- He had a photographic memory.
- He could do integral calculus in his head.
- He could speak over eight languages.
- He can be credited with the idea for wireless Internet and smartphones.
- He gained over 300 patents worldwide.
Source: Flickr/Chris Coleman