I’m interested in certain notable electrical engineers due to a personal heartstring. My grandfather, James Blakely Kennedy, was a career electrical engineer for Bell Labs and held several U.S. patents. During World War II, he enlisted as a teenager and helped establish Sigsaly equipment, the first unbreakable scrambler for radio messages used by the military. He served as the first president of the Telephone Pioneers of America and raised seven children. He was a genius – and a quiet eccentric. Today, let’s celebrate another electric systems inventor’s birthday: Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856.

Tesla came from a small village inside the Austrian Empire. The Serbian moved to the United States in 1884 and is best known for his dozens of contributions to modern electrical engineering. Most famously, he helped develop practical uses for alternating current (AC).

The engineer was a visionary, often imagining technologies far ahead of his time. This included wireless communication and wireless power transfer. As a university youth, Tesla designed an induction motor that laid the groundwork for the first successful use of alternating current. The motor looks an awful lot like a modern car’s alternator.

Once stateside, Tesla worked for Thomas Edison before establishing his own lab. Tesla sold multiple AC patents to George Westinghouse. He became a U.S. citizen in 1891.

Many Americans recognize the name “Tesla” thanks to the popular EV brand Tesla, Inc. The company’s founders chose to honor the pioneering inventor. Indeed, Nikola Tesla’s early inventions directly relate to the electric motors used in today’s Tesla cars. These motors utilize AC induction technology, one of Nikola Tesla’s pivotal innovations.

Nikola Tesla’s 112 U.S. patents included:

Electrical Transformer: A key component in the AC electrical distribution system.

Dynamo-Electric Machine: This patent covered an improved design for electrical generators.

Electro-Magnetic Motor: Tesla’s design for an induction motor became crucial in the use of AC power.

Method of Operating Arc-Lamps: Detailed method for operating arc lamps used in lighting systems.

System of Transmission of Electrical Energy: Tesla’s pioneering work on wireless transmission of electricity.

You can review a full list of Tesla’s patents via the Nikola Tesla Museum. Over time, he worked on dozens of illustrious projects with equally illustrious names, like John Pierpont Morgan. Of course, that’s J.P. Morgan to most of us.

In 1915, Tesla was devastated that Thomas Edison won the Nobel Prize instead of himself. To add to the reputational bruising, the press had reported that Tesla would be awarded the high distinction alongside Edison, which wasn’t the case.

In later life, Tesla was well-known for his eccentricity, including his “outlandish” scientific predictions and brainstorms. He kept copious notes, journals, and files containing his ideas and designs that followers still pore over today. He died in New York City in 1943.