Tesla: Man Out of Time

In this informative and delightful (American Scientist) biography, Margaret Cheney explores the brilliant and prescient mind of Nikola Tesla, one of the twentieth centurys greatest scientists and inventors.Called a madman by his enemies, a genius by others, and an enigma by nearly everyone, Nikola Tesla was, without a doubt, a trailblazing inventor who created astonishing, sometimes worldtransforming devices that were virtually without theoretical precedent. Tesla not only discovered the rotating magnetic fieldthe basis of most alternatingcurrent machinerybut also introduced us to the fundamentals of robotics, computers, and missile science.Almost supernaturally gifted, unfailingly flamboyant and neurotic, Tesla was troubled by an array of compulsions and phobias and was fond of extravagant, visionary experimentations. He was also a popular manabouttown, admired by men as diverse as Mark Twain and George Westinghouse, and adored by scores of society beauties.From Teslas childhood in Yugoslavia to his death in New York in the 1940s, Cheney paints a compelling human portrait and chronicles a lifetime of discoveries that radically alteredand continue to transformthe world in which we live. Tesla: Man Out of Time is an indepth look at the seminal accomplishments of a scientific wizard and a thoughtful examination of the obsessions and eccentricities of the man behind the science.