Nikola Tesla Legacy

Nikola Tesla's legacy is remarkable for having been almost completely forgotten for decades after his death and then dramatically revived in the internet age. In the mid-20th century, his name appeared in almost no history books — Edison received credit for innovations that Tesla had pioneered or improved. His modern revival began with biographers like W. Bernard Carlson (Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, 2013) and was amplified by internet culture, which made Tesla a counter-cultural hero representing genius suppressed by commercial interests. Elon Musk named his electric car company Tesla Motors (2003) partly to honor Tesla's work in electrical engineering — though the association is somewhat ironic given that Musk is himself a controversial businessman of the type Tesla hated. The Tesla Roadster's AC induction motor directly uses Tesla's patent (AC induction motor, 1888). The Tesla Coil (1891) — which generates high-frequency, high-voltage electricity — is still used in radio equipment and has inspired generations of amateur scientists. Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower (1901-1917, Long Island) — designed to transmit electricity wirelessly around the world — remains his most ambitious and controversial project.