Nikola Tesla was a notoriously obsessive scientist who pioneered the advent of Alternating Current (Edison gets all the props with his DC current, but all the electricity you see is AC), as well as wireless electricity, the remote control, basic radar, the generator (basically a motor), cellular technology, the remote control, X-rays, neon lighting, tesla coil (transformer) and a myriad of others.
Despite his awe-inspiring additions to science and invention, some still only know Tesla as that David Bowie character. The debate between Tesla and Thomas Edison (considered our greatest inventor) rages on even today. Tesla, despite his peculiar behavior, was also a good friend of author Mark Twain. After the jump, some great pictures of Twain with Tesla from a 1895 article entitled Tesla’s Osillator and Other Inventions .
The Tesla Oscillator: combining in one mechanism the dynamo and steam engine.
The face is that of Tesla, and it’s the very first photograph taken of phosphorescent light.
This is a picture of Twain in Tesla’s laboratory circa January 1894. The time it took for exposure was 10 minutes.
Experiment showing play of electric sparks between condenser plates, produced by electric coil. The coil, standing in the center of a large room, is unconnected with the energizing circuit.
Tesla showing an experiment that illustrating the lighting of an incandescent lamp in free space from induction by coil below, energized by a circuit below.