“THE VISIONARY* *(tesla)”
Written by Al Dividian and Joel Shapiro
Directed by Joel Shapiro

MORE ABOUT NIKOLA TESLA

A dizzying pace of change; the uneasy collaboration of profit and innovation; the madness of love lost and a life’s work unfinished. These phrases could easily describe the struggles of our own time, but “The Visionary* *(tesla)” takes place in 1917, on the day legendary scientist and inventor, Nikola Tesla, is set to accept an Edison Award for lifetime achievement. The award is well deserved – Tesla is responsible for many of the discoveries that laid the foundation for the modern age: alternating current, wireless technology, the modern power system itself. But underneath the genius was a relentless struggle; a tortured, flawed man who, at every turn, chose his work over any semblance of love or deep friendship. He was sure it would only magnify his pain. He could not guarantee the success of his most ambitious project, a tower to beam free, wireless energy across the earth. But Tesla still chose the uncertain.

HIS WORK

Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 - January 7, 1943) was a Serbian-American physicist, inventor, and electrical engineer. Tesla's most famous contribution was the theory of polyphase alternating current electricity, which he used to build the first induction motor in 1882, as well as developing the designs of numerous other electrical machines and related technology. His theory and many of his patents form the basis for the modern electric power system. Tesla is also noted for inventing the Tesla coil and a bladeless turbine (which functions on the principles of fluid viscosity and the boundary layer effect).

Life magazine, in a special double issue, listed Tesla in the "100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years". He occupied the 57th position, cited as "[one of] the most farsighted inventors of the electrical age". They state his work on the rotating magnetic field and alternating currents helped electrify the world. [1]

The scientific compound derived SI unit measuring magnetic flux density or magnetic induction (commonly known as the magnetic field B), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the Conférence Générale des Poids et Mesures, Paris, 1960).

HIS LIFE

Tesla started to exhibit pronounced symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder in later years. He became obsessed with the number three. He often felt compelled to walk around a block three times before entering a building, demanded a stack of three folded cloth napkins beside his plate at every meal, etc. The nature of OCD was little understood at the time and no treatments were available, so his symptoms were considered by some to be evidence of partial insanity and this probably hurt what was left of his reputation. This obsessive-compulsive behavior may have originated from the observations over repeated polyphase systems in nature that Tesla researched.

At this time, he was staying at the Waldorf-Astoria, renting in an arrangement for deferred payments. In 1917, around the time that the Wardenclyffe Tower was demolished, Tesla received the highest engineering award from the IEEE, the Edison Medal, named for his arch rival. The irony of this honor was probably not lost on Tesla - and it is here where our film joins his story.

copyright © 2004 DEDALUS MEDIA, inc.
Biographical information courtesy of Wikipedia.