Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla, born an Austrian citizen on July 10, 1856, dreamed as a child of coming to America and harnessing the power of Niagara Falls. Tesla came to America in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison after creating a more efficient motor. Edison and Tesla had very divergent thoughts on how to harness the power of the current; Tesla favored the alternating current method as opposed to Edison’s direct current. After he began his own work, Tesla experimented with shadow graphs (which later became x-rays,) lamps, and lightning. He gave demonstrations in his lab of how electricity could be sent through the human body to power things to show that the alternating current was a very method of conducting electricity. He then invented the Tesla Coil which is still used today in radio and wireless communication. Tesla was the inventor of the first remote-controlled toy boat, but more importantly he discovered that the Earth can be used as a conductor and can receive electrical vibrations. Using this knowledge he was able to produce man-made lightning. He then worked on his childhood dream and was a pioneer in the use of turbines and hydropower. After falling on economic hardship his experiments could no longer go on and he could only record his ideas in his journals which are still used by engineers today. Tesla died in 1943 and is remembered as “the genius who lit the world.”
Tesla and The Prestige
Borden hears about Tesla and how he can generate man-made electricity that would not harm a person; he builds a set to utilize these electrical fields in his trick, titled The New Transported Man. There is great electicical drama as he appears to shock himself and then dissappears, only to come out of a cabinet the very same instant.
Angier develops a trick to rival The New Transported Man. Electicity wraps around him like whips untill he vanishes, Angier then appears in an almost drunken daze at the back of the theatre. His set bears great resemblance to the Tesla Coil.
Angier’s set up Tesla Coil
Hugh Jackman, star of the film adaptation of The Prestige, on Tesla
Quotes
“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.” -Tesla
“There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without.” -Tesla
More on Tesla
Even more super cool and in depth information on Tesla, his life’s work, and influence on modern life and science can be found at this website:
Setup Performance Prestige 