It was the Fair That Changed America. And it was the chance for Tesla and Westinghouse to show the world the power of their AC system. The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition made Tesla a household name and changed his life forever.
Category Archives: TESLA: Life & Times Podcast
022 – Tesla – War of the Currents Part 6: The Battle of Chicago (1892)
Westinghouse makes an 11th-hour bid to electrify the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 with Tesla’s AC system and GE will do anything to torpedo the deal. Welcome to Thunderdome: two bids enter, one bid leaves…
021 – Tesla – War of the Currents Part 5: The Second Front (1890 – 1892)
Edison and Westinghouse battle over lightbulbs and high finance as we return to the trenches of the War of the Currents, and see how the war whittled itself down from fifteen combatants to just two…
020 – Tesla – A Most Painful Ordeal (1892)
Tesla’s trip to the Continent would take an emotional and physical toll that he couldn’t have imagined. But he nevertheless returned from Europe with the big idea that would dominate the rest of his career.
Episode 19 – Order of the Flaming Sword (1891-1892)
When his colleagues in the AC field start turning on him, Tesla uses an invitation to lecture in London to reassert his place as the inventor of the AC motor and to dazzle Victorian London with all-new discoveries.
Show Notes for Episode 18 – The Greatest Show On Earth (1891)
Tesla’s 1891 AIEE Lecture (complete text):
The SaskPower Nikola Tesla Quiz:
The History of Rome Podcast by Mike Duncan
Seriously–just listen already.
018 – Tesla – The Greatest Show On Earth (1891)
Tesla the Showman knocks ’em dead at the AIEE with a lecture for the ages and a breathtaking demonstration of high frequency AC. It was his ticket to fame and celebrity.
Show Notes for Episode 17 – The Biggest Mistake Nikola Tesla Ever Made (1890-1891)
As mentioned in this week’s episode, to get a good visual sense of how Tesla would use the ‘skin effect’ of his oscillating transformer to wow Gilded Age audiences, you need look no further than David Bowie’s portrayal of Nikola Tesla from the Christopher Nolan movie, The Prestige (if you haven’t seen it–seriously, do so right away):
And while there are apparently no photographs of these moments, Tesla would also create a glowing halo of energy around himself at his demonstrations, as illustrated here:
(Source: New York World, 09 Dec 1906)
017 – Tesla – The Biggest Mistake Nikola Tesla Ever Made (1890-1891)
Fresh from his return from Europe, Tesla goes on an inventing spree and dabbles in high-frequency currents. But when George Westinghouse comes calling and pleads poverty, Tesla makes a fateful and costly mistake…
016 – Tesla – War of the Currents Part 4: The Executioner’s Current (1889-1890)
The War of the Currents enters its most ghoulish and macabre phase: when the combatants were willing to play with a man’s life. William Kemmler became the first person put to death by deliberate electrocution. Viewer discretion is very much advised.