Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder & the Inventor of the Spark Plug

Nikola Tesla

The creations of Nikola Tesla affect our everyday lives in ways that few other inventors can claim. He invented most of the technology for generating and transmitting electricity, as well as much of the technology behind radio. He invented spark plugs for the internal combustion engine, and a device that's the basis for an important element in picture-tube based TVs.

Yet today, his name is likely to conjure images of a mad scientist. Late in life, perhaps driven by obsessive-compulsive disorder, he boasted of death rays and limitless power, and tried to make contact with Mars.

Tesla was born 150 years today in Austria. He made his way to the United States, where he went to work for Thomas Edison. After the two had a falling out, Tesla built the basic technology for alternating current -- the form of power generation that we use today.

In the late 1800s, he moved to Colorado Springs, where he experimented with ways to transmit electricity through the air and ground. He created a device known as the Tesla coil, which produces big electric sparks. Tesla coils were part of the lab equipment in the original movie version of "Frankenstein."

During his experiments, Tesla detected electrical signals that he thought were messages from Mars. They weren't. But some scientists think they may have been natural radio waves from Jupiter. If so, then Nikola Tesla might deserve credit for another invention: radio astronomy. Script by Damond Benningfield

This story and more at: http://stardate.org/