On the stormy night of July 10, 1856, in the tiny mountain village of Smiljan in modern-day Croatia, lightning crackled across the sky as a baby boy was born. His mother joked that her son was 'a child of the storm.' His name was Nikola Tesla, and he really would grow up to harness lightning. Even as a little kid, Nikola was obsessed with how things worked, taking apart clocks and dreaming up flying machines.
After studying engineering in Europe, Tesla sailed to America in 1884 with four cents in his pocket and a head full of ideas. He worked briefly for Thomas Edison, but the two had a famous falling-out over electricity. Edison wanted to power the world with direct current, or DC. Tesla believed alternating current, or AC, could send electricity much farther with much less waste. Their battle became known as the 'War of the Currents.' Tesla won. Today, the AC system Tesla invented is what powers your house, school, and city lights.
Tesla didn't stop there. He built giant coils that shot lightning bolts across his lab, dreamed up wireless power, helped invent radio, and designed the world's first hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls. He spoke eight languages and could memorize entire books. He even has a unit of measurement named after him - the tesla - and an electric car company. Despite all his genius, Nikola died poor in a New York hotel room in 1943. But every time you switch on a light, you're using a piece of Tesla's wild stormy dream.
