Prodigal Genius

Nikola Tesla was one of the 20th century’s great pioneers; his role in advancing electrical energy through the use of alternating current, and his stupendous engineering finesse, make this biography by journalist John J. O’Neill a fine read.

Born in a Serbian village to a religious family, Nikola demonstrated an interest in physics as a student. The nascent science behind electricity – in the 1870s a mysterious, unharnessed force – became Tesla’s passion. Though the young man’s engineering aspirations were almost derailed when he contracted cholera, and later the Austro-Hungarian army’s conscription, Tesla managed to enrol to study in Graz, Austria. A top-class student, tutors admiration for Tesla’s academic gifts and boundless curiosity was tempered by their concern over his tendency to overwork.

Both of these attributes marked Tesla’s professional life; an obsessively driven man, Tesla’s gifts for invention were amply demonstrated and rewarded in the United States. As his ambitions grew in size and scope, Tesla was hailed as a visionary of electricity but also noted for his eccentric, asocial and even reclusive habits.