To understand Nikola Tesla you have to understand his background and history. So today we continue with his life after working at the BTE and we fast forward a bit to 1884.
In 1884, Nikola embarked on a journey to New York where he got a job at Thomas Edison's Manhattan Headquarters (*). Working there Tesla impressed Edison, excelling in science and engineering parts of the job but lacking the American Humour. This lead to Tesla quitting.
At one point Edison told Tesla he would pay $50,000 for an improved design for his DC dynamos. After months of experimentation, Tesla presented a solution and asked for the money. Edison demurred, saying, “Tesla, you don’t understand our American humor.” Tesla quit soon after.
(Credits)
Parting ways meant Tesla was out of a job. Working hard, Tesla received funding to create his own company "Tesla Electric Light" in 1885. The investors tasked him to develop an improved version of arc lightning.
Being the extraordinary inventor and engineer that Tesla was, he managed to complete the task but unlucky for him he was forced out of the venture, which left Nikola working as a labourer just to survive.
Two years past and in 1887, Tesla finally received new funding for his Electric Light Company.
Setting straight to work, by the end of the year, Tesla had successfully filed several patents for AC-based inventions.(Credits).
This caught the attention of George Westinghouse, an inventor who rivalled Edison in the “current” industry. Tesla received his own lab after being hired by Westinghouse.
In 1889, Edison, in an attempt to stint his rival’s competitive advantage, arranged that a convicted murderer be sentenced to death in an AC-powered electric chair. (This was one of Tesla’s patents).
*Thomas might be in my next installment of this series
Read up on Part One