Monday, January 10, 2011
Bathroom Monologue: Gets My Coils Going
Nikola Tesla was one of the great geniuses of the 20th century, even if half of his theoretical inventions were insane. Yes, his work was essential to the development of the radio, radar and robotics, but a moral vegetarian always looks a little crazier than the average man when he tries to build a death ray. Trying and failing to build that, anti-gravity ships and teleportation devices may have jaded him. Regardless, his work in magnetism and electricity was brilliant; he was the father of the wall socket, and by extension cord, the father of the 20th century. That's why, in addition to being shocked, I was so excited to find him alive. When I asked him about his death from heart failure, he scoffed, "Yes, heart failure at 9:41 AM on January 7th, 1943. At 9:42 AM, I performed the first defibrillation in scientific history. In case you were wondering, it worked."
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You ended it there? How could you?
ReplyDeleteHe could probably give us some insight into what Twain would have thought about the Huck Finn issue. They were buddies, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteTony, I should have asked him when I had the chance. Darn!
ReplyDeleteRuchiraa, historical fiction usually leaves me uncomfortable. I'm prone to keeping it very short and somewhat humorous, to make it more explicit that I'm only playing. Could be a flaw of mine, or one in the genre. Or both. You really wanted more?
I read that Tesla offered his energy coils to J.P. Morgan.
ReplyDeleteNaturally the first question Morgan asked was what's in it for me.
Tesla replied, "Nothing this is free energy for everybody!"
Morgan never spoke to him again.
A lot of the stuff that Tesla did is still under wraps and although many dismiss some of his work the man was a true genius.
Very thought provoking.
Cheers,
Colin.