Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer whose work on alternating-current power systems helped shape modern electricity distribution.

Alternating current: Electric current that periodically reverses direction. Tesla’s electrical systems used alternating current to transmit power efficiently over long distances.
Tesla polyphase system: A system of polyphase alternating currents and motors developed by Nikola Tesla. It combined generators, transmission, and induction motors into a practical AC power system.
George Westinghouse: An American entrepreneur and engineer who founded the Westinghouse Electric Company. Westinghouse backed Tesla’s alternating-current patents and helped bring them into commercial use.
Tesla coil: A resonant transformer circuit that produces high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current. Tesla developed the coil for experiments in high-frequency electricity and wireless transmission.
Alternating-current power distribution: The delivery of electricity using alternating current through transmission and distribution networks. Tesla’s polyphase work helped establish the system that became standard for electric grids.
Induction motor: An electric motor that produces torque through electromagnetic induction in its rotor. Tesla’s practical induction-motor designs made alternating-current power useful for industrial machinery.
Rotating magnetic field: A magnetic field whose direction rotates in space over time. Tesla used phase-shifted currents to create the rotating field that drives an induction motor.
Thomas Edison: An American inventor and businessman associated with electric lighting and direct-current power systems. Edison championed direct-current distribution while Tesla’s work supported alternating current.
Wardenclyffe Tower: A Long Island facility built for Tesla’s proposed wireless communication system. The tower embodied Tesla’s attempt to transmit signals, and potentially power, without wires.
Tesla, Inc.: An American electric-vehicle and clean-energy company named after Nikola Tesla. The company’s name reflects Tesla’s lasting public association with electrical invention, not a direct corporate lineage.

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