Pioneers

Nikola Tesla

NIK-oh-lah TESS-lah

Serbian-American

Citation Formats

General Reference

Energy Atlas. "Nikola Tesla." Accessed August 29, 2026. https://dev-energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/nikola-tesla.

APA Style

Energy Atlas. (n.d.). Nikola Tesla. Retrieved August 29, 2026, from https://dev-energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/nikola-tesla

BibTeX

@misc{energyatlas-nikola-tesla,
  author = {Energy Atlas},
  title = {Nikola Tesla},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-energy.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/nikola-tesla},
  note = {Accessed August 29, 2026}
}

The Serbian-American engineer whose polyphase alternating current system, licensed to Westinghouse, won the war of currents and became the way the world moves electricity. His induction motor of 1888 turned AC from a lighting curiosity into industrial power, and the Niagara Falls plant of 1895 proved the system at continental scale.

Facts

Birth Date

1856-07-10 1

Tesla was born at midnight between 9 and 10 July 1856; some sources cite 9 July for this reason.

Birth Year

1856 1

Death Date

1943-01-07 1

Death Year

1943 1

Nationality

Serbian-American 1

Defining Contribution

The polyphase alternating current system and induction motor 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Electrical Grid

The polyphase alternating current system is the form the grid still takes.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Milestones Credited

Niagara Falls AC Power

The polyphase system the plant used was licensed from the Tesla patents.

Source Encyclopedia Britannica

Sources

1. Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source

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