

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla: Strange Genius - kqr2
http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2008/01/25

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gruseom
Years ago I read about Tesla that he would visualize a machine in his head,
start a simulation of it running, then come back later and inspect the screws
for wear - all of this in his imagination. Does anyone know whether that story
is true? or where it came from?

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tfincannon
Tesla told his story to the author of "Prodigal Genius" (1944), who wrote:
"What Tesla had discovered was a means of creating a rotating magnetic field,
a magnetic whirlwind in space which possessed fantastically new and intriguing
properties...It was not necessary for him to construct models of copper and
iron: in his mental workshop he constructed them in wide variety...The mental
constructs were built with meticulous care as concerned size, strength, design
and material; and they were tested mentally, he maintained, by having them run
for weeks-after which time he would examine them thoroughly for signs of
wear."

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gruseom
You nailed it. Yay! Thanks.

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tfincannon
The full text of "Prodigal Genius", a somewhat hagiographic but still
fascinating biography of Tesla, is online at
<http://www.rastko.rs/istorija/tesla/oniell-tesla.html>.

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TriinT
Here's a cool documentary on Tesla:

 _Tesla: Master of Lightning_ <http://www.pbs.org/tesla>

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1LqxG49DLk>

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massa
And a vampire! He is probably reading this! :-D

