Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography BY: JOHN T. RATZLAFF AND LELAND I. ANDERSON Dr. Nikola Tesla Bibliography BY John T. Ratzlaff and Leland I. Anderson PAL0 ALTO, CALIFORNIA 1979 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Individuals Nick Basura, Los Angeles, Calif. Christopher Bird, Washington, D. C. Martin Cornelius, Gary, Indiana (decd.) Larry David, Augusta, Ga. Richard Dean, Randolph, Mass. Dr. Leon De Seblo, Auburn, Calif. Davis Erhardt, Head, Long Island Div., Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, N. Y. Harry Goldman, Glenns Falls, N. Y. Robert Golka, Wendover, Utah (Mrs.) Inez Hunt, Manitou Springs, Colo. William Kolb, Upper Marlboro, Md. Harry Lampert, Santa Monica, Calif. A. L. Lez, San Anselmo, Calif. (Mrs.) Mary Molek, (formerly) Curator, Immigrant Archives, University Libraries, University of Minnesota Oliver Nichelson, Whitinsville, Mass. Adam Sudetic, Detroit, Mich. (decd.) Dr. Marcel Vogel, San Jose, Calif. Prof. Warren Rice, Arizona State University, Tempe Oraanizations and Institutions American Philosophical Society, Phila. - Calif. State Library, Sacramento Colorado Springs Public Library Columbia University - Butler Library, N. Y. C. General Electric Co. General Dynamics, Convair Division Library of Congress, Manuscripts Division Los Angeles Public Library Mechanics Institute Library, San Francisco New York City Public Library San Francisco Public Library San Mateo County Library, Belmont, Calif. Smithsonian Institution - National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution - Div. of Electricity and Nuclear Power Stanford University Libraries Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................... v BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY ....................... ix REFERENCES ............................ 1 UNDATED REFERENCES ........................230 PATENTS .............................231 SOURCES OF REFERENCE MATERIAL ..................237 vii BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY At the stroke of midni.ght in the village of Smiljan, Lika, Nikola Tesla was born between July 9th and loth, 1856. During this time, Smiljan was under the jurisdiction of Austria-Hungary. It is now part of Yugoslavia. His father was the Reverend Milutin Tesla, a priest of the Serbian Orthodox faith. His mother's name was Djouka, and came from the house- hold of Mandich. She was an inventor in her own right, creating many household devices. Early schooling was in Smiljan and Gospic, and upon reaching the age of fifteen, Nikola was sent to the Higher Real Gymnasium at Karlo- vac, Croatia. Until this time it was planned by his family that he become a minister. Tesla then experienced an extended illness, during which his father consented to the son's wishes to study in the field of mathematics and physics. At the age of nineteen, Tesla started his higher education at the Polytechnic School at Gratz, Austria. It was at Gratz that a demonstration of a Gramme dynamo exhibited the flaw of arcing brushes. The germ of the idea of a motor without a commutator was now created. Nikola was an outstanding student, and early in his schooling demonstrated the ability to work complex mathematical problems in his mind, arriving at an answer almost as soon as the problem was presented. This ability was to expand into even greater mental capabilities, al- most beyond comprehension. In 1880, Nikola went to Prague, carrying out his father's wish to complete his education at the university. The next year he took a po- sition as chief electrician of a newly formed telephone company in Budapest. Following another illness, he was employed by the Continen- tal Edison Company in Paris. It was during this period that the concept of an alternating current motor, based upon the rotating magnetic field principle, came to him in a flash of inspiration. Tesla next accepted an offer to work with Thomas A. Edison and, upon arriving in New York on June 6, 1884 (became naturalized citizen July 30, 1891), went to work designing direct current dynamos. Tesla quit immediately after failing to receive promised pay for design work. Backers for a new system of electric lighting were then secured, but at the end of a year he was richer by stock certificates of little value. By 1887, Tesla had obtained capital for a laboratory in which he pro- duced working models of motors he had mentally devised. On May 16, 1888, he read a paper entitled "A New System of Alternate-Current Mot- ors and Transformers," before a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in New York in which he announced his recently patented polyphase system of power transmission. Soon after, the pat- ent rights were purchased by The Westinghouse Electric Company. en route to Colorado Springs to conduct experiments on wireless power transmission. There, he produced the greatest length point-to-point electrical discharges ever achieved by man, by means of an enormous Tesla coil called a Magnifying Transmitter, and startled the technical community with photographs and claims of his work. With the successful completion of his experimental work at Colorado Springs, Tesla returned to New York in January (1900) and the following year began construction of a world-wide communications system at Warden- clyffe, Long Island, sponsored in part by J. P. Morgan. However, the project was not completed because of insufficient funds, and the ulti- mate goal of wireless transmission of power to Paris was not demonstrat- ed. During the next several years Tesla turned his attention to the development of a novel turbine which now bears his name. Summarizing his work of the preceding 12 years, Tesla gave an address entitled "New Inventions of Tesla" before a meeting of the National Electric Light Association in New York on May 15, 1911, in which he described his Magnifying Transmitter and turbine developments. It became evident to many in years following that Tesla had devel- oped the fundamental concepts of television and radar, decades before their inception. He also spoke of the development of a "death ray". Many of his ideas, including the possibility of interplanetary communi- cation, were simply too far ahead of the times. In the United States alone, 111 patents were issued to Tesla. It is estimated that his name can be linked to several hundred inventions. Many honors and awards were bestowed upon him, including honorary de- grees, the John Scott Medal, the Edison Medal, and awards from foreign countries. Mentally active but physically weak toward the end, Nikola Tesla died Jan. 7, 1943, in his rooms at the Hotel New Yorker, having perhaps contributed more to our present technical society than any other single individual. Later that year, the U. S. Supreme Court invalidated the fundamental radio patent of Marconi primarily on the basis of the prior work of Tesla. On the occasion of the Tesla Centennial Anniversary in 1956, the International Electrotechnical Commission announced that the unassigned unit of magnetic flux density in the MKS System be named "tesla" in his honor. In 1976, on the occasion of Tesla's 120th anni- versary, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (succes- sor organization to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers) es- tablished the Tesla Award. Suggested biographical account of Tesla's life and work are Prodigal Genius, by John J. O'Weill, and Lightning In His Hand, by Inez Hunt and Wanetta Draper. REFERENCES (Notations following references are as follows:) (p) Periodicals, English Language (n) Newspapers, English Language (b) Books and Misc. Publications, English Language (fp) Periodicals, Foreign Languages (fn) Newspapers, Foreign Languages (fb) Books and Misc. Publications, Foreign Languages Schul , Otto. "Die elektrischen Beleuchtungsanlaqen des neuen Centralbahnhofes zu Strassburg," ~eitschriftfiir-~lektrotechnik - Wein, No. 11, 1884. (fp) "Tesla Electric Light Co.", Electrical Review - N. Y., Aug. 14, 1886, p. 12. (The Tesla system in daily use on the streets of Rah- way, N- J.1 (PI "Improvement in Electric Lamps," (Spec. 1877). Electrical Review - London, Feb. 25, 1887, p. 189. (Abstract of Tesla patent specifi- cation.) (p) Tesla, Nikola. "Mr. Nikola Tesla on Alternating Current Motors," Electrical World - N. Y., May 25, 1887. (p) Bernard, Charles. "Nikola Tesla The Electrician," Chatauquan, July, 1887, pp. 380-384. (Brief biography of Tesla and his work.) (p) "Nik. Teslas nenes System von Wechselstrommotoren und Transforma- toren, " Cetralblatt Fur Elektrotechnik, 1888, pp. 140-148. (From Electrical Engineer, June, 1888.) (p) "The Tesla System of Distribution of Electric Motors for Alternating Currents," Electrical Review - N. Y., May 12, 1888, p. 1. (Dis- cusses six patents issued to Tesla during the previous week. See also Electrical Engineer - London, May 25, 1888, p. 493.) (p) "The Tesla System of Distribution & Electric Motors for Alternating Currents," Electrical Engineer - London, May 25, 1888, pp. 493, 494. (Refers to Electrical Review - N. Y. System involving six patents issued to Nikola Tesla last week.) (p) Ferraris, Signor. "Electro-Dynamic Rotation by Means of Alt. Currents," Tesla discoveries, that Prof. Elihu Thomson has operated alternate current motor for 12 months.) (p) "The Tesla Alternate Current Motor," Electrical Engineer - London, June 29, 1888, p. 609. (Dr. Louis Duncan reconsiders original state- ment on deficiencies of the Tesla motor, and congratulates the in- ventor. ) (p) "An English Opinion of the Tesla Motor," Electrical Review - N. Y., June 30, 1888. (Article from London Industries.) (p) Tesla, Nikola. "A New System of Alternate Current