Nikola Tesla (18561943) was world-renown inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. Tesla is regarded as one of the most important inventors in history. He is also well known for his contributions to the discipline of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th century. His patents and theoretical work form the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.
In the United States, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture. After his demonstration of wireless communication in 1893 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as America's greatest electrical engineer. Much of his early work pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. He later became credited as being the inventor of the radio. Never putting a large focus on his finances, Tesla died impoverished and forgotten at the age of 86.
Tesla's legacy can be seen across modern civilization wherever electricity is used. Aside from his work on electromagnetism and engineering, Tesla is said to have contributed in varying degrees to the fields of robotics, ballistics, computer science, nuclear physics, and theoretical physics. In his later years, Tesla was regarded as a mad scientist and became noted for making bizarre claims about possible scientific developments Many contemporary admirers of Tesla have deemed him the man who invented the twentieth century.
Docteur Honoris Causa
For his work Tesla received numerous honorary doctoral degrees from a number of universities to include: Columbia University, Graz Polytechnic Institute, University of Zagreb, Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, University of Belgrade, University of Brno, University of Grenoble, University of Paris, University de Poitiers, Charles University in Prague, University of Sofia, Vienna Polytechnic Institute, and Yale University