When you hear the name Nikola Tesla, the idea of ​​a great inventor does not usually come to mind instantly. In fact, in most cases the person does not know who he is. Nikola Tesla, the protégé of Thomas Edison, was an extraordinary scientist who diligently improved the science of mechanical and electrical engineering until his death, when he began to be forgotten by those who studied electrical and mechanical engineering. He invented many things, including the induction motor and alternating current. Tesla was known by many journalists and media as the stereotypical "mad scientist" until his death in 1946. Tesla was born the fourth child of Milutin and Duka Tesla. His father, Milutin, was a Serbian priest; and his mother was a housewife who built her own mechanical egg beater and also had a talent for memorizing and reciting Serbian epics. Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan; a village in the Austrian Empire. Tesla's older brother Dane was killed when Tesla was five, either from a horseback riding accident or from being pushed down the cellar stairs by Nikola as Dane charged as he lay delirious in the hospital. Due to Dane's death, Tesla was expected to follow in his father's footsteps and become a shepherd. The family moved to Gospic, a town in the Austrian Empire in 1862. Tesla excelled in elementary school, being able to perform integral calculus completely in his head; much to the disbelief of his teachers. In 1873 he completed his four-year term in three. After returning home from school, Tesla contracted cholera which worried his father. Tesla saw this as an opportunity to force his father to rescind his plans for Tesla to enter the priesthood and made his father promise that if Te... middle of the paper... fainted. On January 1, he complained of chest pain while conducting an experiment and returned to the hotel where he lived. He was last seen alive by a hotel maid on the 5th, the night he made his telephone call to the Secretary of Defense. On January 12, 1943, over two thousand people gathered in the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian to honor the great engineer. Tesla brought several innovations to this world, the most famous being alternating current and the Tesla coil, but his mind was one of the most innovative and intelligent of its era. It went beyond the normal thoughts and mentalities of the 19th century and produced scientific marvels such as the Wardenclyffe tower. He was a man of many talents and abilities and spent his last days at the New York Public Library, feeding pigeons he called "my sincere friends".”.