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Nikola Tesla

Serbian-American engineer and inventor (1856–1943)

  • Fame85.7
  • Momentum0.0
  • Global rank#193
Source-basedFalling
  • Fame85.7
  • Momentum0.0
  • Global rank#193
  • Scientists rank#8
  • Wikipedia361.9K
Lived 1856–1943, aged 87
US flagHR flagScientistsScientist
  • Wikipedia
    174 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Global rank
    #193
    Fame.am leaderboard
  • Era
    1856–1943
    Aged 87
  • Known for
    Tesla: Master of Light…
    2000
Summary
Updated 2026-09-02

The engineer who made alternating current practical, then bet everything on wireless power nobody would fund. His motor design won—his tower in the woods did not.

Biography

About

Born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1856, Tesla studied engineering and physics in the 1870s without finishing a degree, then worked in telephony and at Continental Edison before migrating to the United States in 1884. He spent a brief stint at Edison Machine Works in New York before founding his own labs, where his AC induction motor and polyphase patents—licensed by Westinghouse in 1888—became the foundation of the modern electrical grid and made him considerable money. Through the 1890s he chased wireless lighting and global wireless power transmission in high-voltage experiments in New…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla
said
Money does not represent such a value as men have placed upon it.
— As quoted in Dragislav L. Petković, "A Visit to Nikola Tesla", Politika (April 1927); also in Margaret Cheney, Robert Uth, and Jim Glenn,
Nikola Tesla
said
Our virtues and our failings are inseparable, like force and matter. When they separate, man is no more.
— "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", Century Illustrated Magazine (June 1900)
Nikola Tesla
said
Nature may reach the same result in many ways.
— "On Light And Other High Frequency Phenomena" A lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia (24 February 1893), and
Nikola Tesla
said
Ere long intelligence—transmitted without wires—will throb through the earth like a pulse through a living organism.
— In Electrical Engineer, (24 Jun 1892), 11‎, 609.
Nikola Tesla
said
Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. This idea is not novel.
— "Experiments With Alternate Currents Of High Potential And High Frequency" (February 1892)
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Falling
85.7
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical37.0
Now attention25.0
Source confidence65.0
Completeness65.0
Global rank
#193
Country rank
—
Category rank
#8
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence