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GIANTS OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION 10

Dr sci. SIMO JELAČA

NIKOLA TESLA (1856-1943), Serbian-American inventor

Nikola Tesla, a Serb, was born in Smiljan in Lika (then Austria-Hungary, today Croatia). He studied technology in Graz, Prague and Budapest and spoke English, French, German, Italian and Serbian. He emigrated to the United States in 1884 and got his first job with Thomas Edison. He designed his first induction electric motor back in Budapest, and built it in his laboratory in New York. In 1885, Westinghouse Electric purchased Tesla's rights to alternating current (AC) devices, and in 1887, it patented several devices in the field of polyphase motors and power transmission via transmission lines. In 1891, he invented the Tesla coil, and in 1893, he lit up the World's Fair in Chicago, where he first demonstrated neon lighting by writing the names: Faraday, Maxwell, Henry and Jovan Jovanović - the Dragon. That was the first time he demonstrated the so-called Columbus egg, which turned on the principle of a rotating magnetic field. On the stage, in front of numerous visitors, he passed through himself high-frequency currents of two million volts, creating a halo of light around him, which caused unprecedented amazement, fear and respect. He lit a neon lamp while holding it in one hand, demonstrating for the first time the possibility of wireless energy transfer. He was the first in the world to patent a radio on September 2, 1897 (patent no. 645576 and 649621), which was accepted in 1900. The Italian Marconi filed his patent application on July 28, 1904 (no. 763772), for which he nevertheless won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1911. Marconi's patent was invalidated in June 1943 (U.S. Supreme Court Decision No. 6369), in Tesla's favor, although too late, Tesla having died before that on January 7, 1943. .

Even as a child, Tesla fantasized about currents of lightning strength, which would cause rains and irrigate deserts, and during his work he intended to produce high-frequency currents, five hundred trillion hertz, equal to the intensity of the light of the sun. He built a hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls in 1895, whose generators were each 5,000 HP, with transmission lines to Buffalo, and a little later to Chicago and New York. With this, he realized his childhood dreams, that he would stop the Niagara Falls, and defeat Edison, with the wide application of alternating currents. At that time, Tesla's first laboratory burned down (was it by accident or was the fire started?). At the time, Tesla was believed to be the richest man in the world and practically ran out of dollars in his pocket.

He discovered the x-rays, but with their help he only took pictures of the jacket and the ankle and left them in a drawer. He did not pay enough attention to that discovery, and after announcing it at a meeting of electrical engineers in New York, the German scientist V. Röntgen published it as his discovery on December 28, 1895 and received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the same in 1901. Tesla used high-frequency currents to measure time with an accuracy of a millionth of a second over a period of a thousand years. He patented the first remote control of a ship in 1898, when he also demonstrated the first electric computer and robotic control system. He created the first wireless energy transmission (which is in mass use today), used the ionosphere to transmit energy, invented vacuum tubes, created the aurora borealis effect, made the first contacts in the interplanetary system, ordered the use of solar energy, the climate change system, eliminated wars, predicted image and sound transmission systems (today television) and many other achievements. On his 50th birthday, he announced the invention of bladeless turbines (patent nos. 1061142 and 1061206), which he demonstrated on a car with no gearbox, no cylinders and no camshafts, and which was the pinnacle of all without harmful exhaust gasses. . The car was driven by the principle of applying cosmic rays, and when the villains told him he was crazy, Tesla simply destroyed his car, removed the propulsion device and left them. He offered his invention to Henry Ford but never implemented it. Tesla, among others, patented the automobile speedometer, which is still in use around the world today.

In November 1915, news was published that Tesla would receive the Nobel Prize, but that too was a hoax. The same thing happened again in 1937, when it was played for the second time. Tesla himself said that his inventions would be more valuable to humanity than all the Nobel Prizes over the next thousand years, and he was right. He was awarded the Edison Gold Medal in 1917, which he received only after many years of persuasion by close admirers. That year, he also published an invention that would later be called Radar, and he also announced rocket remote guidance. Tesla hoped that the rocket system would lead to permanent peace on the planet, although we have witnessed the Americans abusing it, even against Tesla's homeland. Even as a boy, he imagined a ring around the earth, which would rotate synchronously with the earth, which is reminiscent of the first idea about satellites.

During 1920, Tesla patented a vacuum tube, with a vacuum of only a billionth of a micron (practically an absolute vacuum), with which he predicted the transfer of unlimited energy. Later, it was produced as a Differential Pump, applicable for the so-called Death Rays. At the age of 77, he received a patent (No. 6555114), a device for air transport (it is a combination of a helicopter and an airplane), with which the US Army is currently experimenting. For his 75th birthday, Tesla announced a new energy source, possibly using cosmic rays. At the time, it was said that he was also working on the study of anti-gravity and the modeling of invisible planes and ships, which the US military is also working on.

Before World War II, Tesla announced the invention of the so-called Death Rays, although Tesla called them Rays of Peace, unlimited power, invisible and impenetrable, like the Chinese Wall around the earth. He first offered this discovery to England, which Churchill quickly rejected. When he offered the same to the League of Nations, the Americans were worried, so it was during those days that FBI agents broke into Tesla's hotel room and took all his important papers from the safes. Tesla also offered the same patent to America, Canada, France, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in 1937. Today this invention is identified as "Rat Zvezda" (Star Wars or charged particle beam weapon). The Soviet Union showed the greatest interest in this weapon and paid Tesla $25,000, immediately after which Tesla was run over by a taxi on the street. Is it not a mere coincidence or a staged assassination attempt?

Tesla also proposed a system of telegeodynamic vibrations for the detection of mineral deposits underground, which today is done via satellite. Tesla microwave ovens are the basis of computer technology today. Matthews, an assistant to Lord Kelvin, who worked at Tesla until Tesla's death, said that Tesla invented the Teslascope, a device for communicating with other worlds. It is basically a cosmic ray emitter, and unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have been found to fly on their principle. After Tesla, work on flying saucers was continued by Thomas Thousand Brown, using artificial gravity, on which principle in 1958 he achieved the speed of a flying object of several hundred miles per hour.

Tesla studied the Dynamic Theory of Gravitation, although he did not publish it during his lifetime, which explains the movement of bodies in space. He opposed Einstein's theory of the curvature of light. Before his death, he created a wide space concept based on anti-electromagnetic propulsion, which the US military currently uses to power the Stealth B-2 aircraft. He also patented a device for using radiant energy (No. 685957 dated November 5, 1901). Tesla patented a total of about 800 patents, and many of his inventions remained secret in the form of sketches and short notes, most of which are owned by the US military and secret services

JOHN JOSEPH THOMSON (1856-1940), English mathematician and physicist

Thompson came to the University of Manchester at the age of 14, and in 1897 he announced the discovery of the electron and in 1906 he received the Nobel Prize for Physics. When he discovered the electron, as one-thousandth of the mass of an atom, he confused the entire scientific world. From 1884 he was head of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where he remained until 1919. He discovered the electron as a cathode ray in an airless tube. He established that in a vacuum, under the influence of electric and magnetic fields, electrons travel in the form of light. This led him to the conclusion that these rays were made of particles, not waves. He also determined that they have a negative charge and are not specific to any element. This was later confirmed by the fact that electrons are the same from gaseous as from metallic elements. Thompson also measured the weight of the electron to the extent that it is one-thousandth of the weight of a hydrogen atom. He thereby confirmed that electron beams are composed of corpuscles and that as such they are an integral part of all matter. Later, these corpuscles were renamed electrons and accepted as a fundamental part of the understanding of atomistics. In Cavendish's laboratory, Thompson participated in the discoveries of some isotopes, as well as in the development of spectroscopy. He distinguished himself as an outstanding lecturer and raised the reputation of his laboratory to the highest level in the world. All seven of his students are Nobel Prize winners.

HEINRICH RUDOLF HERTZ (1857-1894), German physicist

Rudolf Hertz, a professor at the University of Karlsruhe, discovered radio radiation in 1888. He was engaged in research in the field of Maxwell's findings and noticed that, in addition to electromagnetic radiation, there must be another radiation, similar in properties to infrared and ultraviolet, as well as visible light. For this he needed special equipment, so he recommended a device with a circuit but with an intermediate space over which the spark must jump when the circuit is closed. First, these rays were called Hertz rays, and later they were renamed radio rays. Hertz proved the properties of these rays, just as they had been hypothesized by Maxwell. These rays have the speed of light, can be reflected, refracted and vibrate like waves. Hertz himself did not experience the use of radio waves, but they were used by Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), who was the first to send radio signals across the Atlantic, crowning himself with fame based on the discoveries of Nikola Tesla and Hertz.

In recognition of Hertz, the International System of Measurement, SI, established the Hertz frequency unit, named after him. Hertz died at the age of 37.

MIHAJLO PUPIN (1858-1935), Serbian, American telephony giant

Born in Idvor in Banat, he gave himself the nickname Idvorski, after his birthplace he experienced the fame of a world giant in the fields of telephony and secondary X-ray radiation. During his lifetime, he clashed with Tesla, about which Mark Seifer writes in detail (see http//www.srpska dijaspora.info, article by S. Jelač: Mihajlo Pupin).

As a boy, during the summer months, he looked after cattle in the pastures and with the boys practiced roll calls through the village, which later in life would become the basis for his studies in the field of long-distance telephony. He attended high school in Pancevo, and began his studies in Prague. He soon left them and at the age of 16 traveled by ship to America in 1974. In New York, he experienced all the hardships of immigrant life, and finally, thanks to

exceptional persistence, he did not get to study at Columbia University. He finished his studies as the best student in his class in 1883, and as a scholarship holder of the same university, he continued his postgraduate studies at Cambridge, in Cavendish's laboratory, and received his doctorate in Berlin under Professor Helmholtz in 1889. Columbia, became its professor, where he worked for 40 years. He stood out as an outstanding mathematician and an excellent teacher. In addition to the mathematical physics course, he also gave lectures from industry, which provided funds for his scientific work and met prominent American businessmen. He met Tesla for the first time while giving a lecture before the Society of Electrical Engineers of America in Boston in 1890. Then Pupin popularized the use of alternating currents, while admirers of Edison even created the electric chair to scare the world away from using alternating currents. In those years, Tesla was on the rise: he illuminated the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, built a hydroelectric power plant on Niagara in 1895, his transformers were used and Tesla's polyphase currents became the basis of America's electrification. Edison even threatened Pupin with losing his position at the university.

With his research work, Pupin established himself in the field of electrical engineering and telephony, he patented 24 of his inventions, many of which were widely used around the world, and many of which are still used today. His most important patents are electric filters (No. 519346) in 1893, as well as resonators (No. 640515 and 640516) in 1895 and no. 707007 and 707008 and others. When Röntgen announced his invention of X-rays in December 1895, Pupin rushed to investigate them and already in February 1896 he patented the invention of secondary X-rays, which soon found wide application in medicine, reducing the imaging time from one hour to just one an hour. a few seconds.

Pupin also wrote his autobiographical work From immigrant to inventor, which was published in 1923 in hundreds of thousands of copies and accepted as a textbook for the popularization of science. He even received the Pulitzer Prize for the same.

On the business front, Pupin was very successful, he sold his patents to powerful companies and thus acquired enough funds to engage in experimental work unhindered. So he sold the same to Bella in America and Siemens in Germany, and they installed the first telephone line Berlin - Potsdam (32.5 km), then Berlin - Magdeburg (150 km) and New York - San Francisco (5000 km), on which the first was spoken by Alexander Graham Bell. He also participated in the installation of the first transatlantic submarine cable connecting America with Europe. During the First World War, he perfected communications with aircraft in flight.

From Columbia University, Pupin was a friend of American President Wilson, and as he was engaged in the peace plan, he participated in the Peace Conference in Paris in 1919, at the disposal of the Yugoslav government of Stojan Protić. At that conference, the Romanians demanded the entire Banat, claiming that it belonged to them. Then President Wilson asked them: "Do you know Professor Pupin, I know he is from Banat, and I also know him as an ardent Serbian patriot." Thus, the status of the Banat was fixed.

For his lifetime achievements, Pupin received the Franklin Gold Medal in 1902, the Herbert Gold Medal in 1916, the Edison Medal in 1920, the Washington Medal in 1928, and the Fritz Gold Medal in 1931. The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) established the Pupin Foundation in 1913 to educate Serbia's poor children.

Pupin has been rated as one of the greatest minds of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He died in New York on March 12, 1935, on his 61st birthday when he left Hamburg by ship for America.

To be continued

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