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Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla was an eccentric genius who counted Mark Twain among his closest friends.

Nikola Tesla

Serbian American inventor and engineer
Written by
Inez Whitaker Hunt
Lecturer and freelance writer. Teacher of creative writing, University of Colorado extension, Colorado Springs, 1963–66. Coauthor of Lightning in His Hand: The Life Story of Nikola Tesla.
Inez Whitaker Hunt
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Nikola Tesla (born July 9/10, 1856, Smiljan, Austrian Empire [now in Croatia]—died January 7, 1943, New York, New York, U.S.) was a Serbian American inventor and engineer who discovered and patented the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery. He also developed the three-phase system of electric power transmission. He immigrated to the United States in 1884 and sold the patent rights to his system of alternating-current dynamos, transformers, and motors to George...

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