Nikola Tesla’s Museum

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Nikola Tesla is one of the most relevant and inspiring persons in the entire human kind’s history. He was an American-Serbian scientist, especially proud of his Serbian origin, and was best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current and electricity supply system. Some say he was the greatest geek that ever lived. He was obsessed with disassembling the world around him so that he could put it back together, but much more improved.

Tesla was born in Smiljan, in 1856, once located within the borders of Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was an orthodox priest and a mother simple housewife. He immigrated to United States in 1884 to work for Thomas Edison in New York City.

Alternating Current-The Greatest Contribution to the Mankind

Opposed to Edison’s invention The Edison System, which used direct current, Tesla had given the world a creation which will completely and utterly change it.

When compared to DC system, Alternating current system with an AC motor which Tesla had invented and developed was able to send electricity much farther and at a much higher voltage. AC could change the direction quickly so there was no need to build power plants every few miles.

As brilliant scientist as he was, he was an equally terrible businessman who was oblivious to the commercial value of his ideas.

Other Important Inventions and Ideas

Some of the most important inventions and discoveries by Nikola Tesla were:

• The Tesla coil machine which transforms energy into extremely high voltage charges, creating spectacular electrical arcs.

• He carved the way for radio transmission, which was possible only due to his discoveries in the field of radio communication. He is considered the true father of radio.

• He was one of the pioneers with his first x-ray images of the human body parts and he had built the first hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls, NY.

The exact number of Tesla’s patents is unknown, but nevertheless he is thought to be the creator of at least 300 inventions, and probably many more ideas which were developed but remained unpatented.

Unfortunately, during his life, he was not adequately recognized for his inventions and contributions to human development. He died on 7th of January 1943, at the age 86, broke and alone in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel.

Where Can You Pay Your Respect to This Great Scientist?

Nikola Tesla’s Museum is located at the center of Belgrade, capital of Serbia.

The residential villa was built in 1929, according to the project of famous Serbian architect Dragisa Brasovan.

In 1952 the museum of Nikola Tesla was opened to the world. The museum has personal artefacts of Mr. Tesla, and a great deal of Tesla’s scientific documents. The museum also guards Tesla’s urn, so it is currently his final resting place.

The museum owns the biggest collection of documents related to Tesla in the world, over 160,000 original documents, over 2,000 books and journals, over 1,200 historical technical exhibits, and over 1,500 photographs and apparatus etc.

The Nicola Tesla Archive was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program Register in 2003.

The permanent exhibition was arranged in 1955, with some slight modifications since then. The reconstruction of the museum was completed in 2006 and it’s open for visitors from Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-6pm.