Nikola Tesla

1856 – 1943 · died at about 87^[1][2]

Science & Invention

Fun Facts About Nikola Tesla

• Nikola Tesla may have accidentally captured an X-ray image weeks before Wilhelm Röntgen announced X-rays, while trying to photograph Mark Twain.^[1][3][4]
• After his investors abandoned his company and left him penniless, Tesla had to work electrical repair jobs and even dig ditches for $2 a day.^[1]
• Tesla wrote that a manager at the Edison Machine Works offered him a $50,000 bonus to design new machines, but it turned out to be a practical joke.^[1]
• Tesla walked to the park every day to feed the pigeons and said he was visited daily by a certain injured white pigeon.^[1]
• Newspapers reported Tesla's claims that his death ray could destroy an invading army 200 miles away and bring down 10,000 enemy planes.^[1]
• In 1960 the SI unit of magnetic flux density was named the tesla in his honor.^[1]
• Vincent van Gogh and Nikola Tesla were alive at the same time for 34 years.^[1][2][5][6]
• Nikola Tesla was alive at the same time as Joe Biden — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1942–1943).^[1][2][7][8]

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.^[1]

Contemporaries

George Bernard Shaw

87 yr overlap

Max Planck

85 yr overlap

Sigmund Freud

83 yr overlap

John D. Rockefeller

81 yr overlap

David Hilbert

81 yr overlap

Rabindranath Tagore

80 yr overlap

Henry Ford

80 yr overlap

Edvard Munch

80 yr overlap

H.G. Wells

77 yr overlap

Frank Lloyd Wright

76 yr overlap

Thomas Edison

75 yr overlap

Mahatma Gandhi

74 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Nikola Tesla

When was Nikola Tesla born?

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, and died on January 7, 1943.

How old was Nikola Tesla at death?

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, and died on January 7, 1943, at age 86.

What was Nikola Tesla known for?

Nikola Tesla was known for: AC electricity, visionary inventor. Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American engineer, futurist, and inventor. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Who was alive at the same time as Nikola Tesla?

Nikola Tesla's closest contemporary was George Bernard Shaw. Their lives overlapped for 87 years.