Wizard:: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla

Front Cover
Citadel, Oct 24, 2011 - Biography & Autobiography - 576 pages
“The story of one of the most prolific, independent, and iconoclastic inventors of this century…fascinating.”—Scientific American

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), credited as the inspiration for radio, robots, and even radar, has been called the patron saint of modern electricity. Based on original material and previously unavailable documents, this acclaimed book is the definitive biography of the man considered by many to be the founding father of modern electrical technology. Among Tesla’s creations were the channeling of alternating current, fluorescent and neon lighting, wireless telegraphy, and the giant turbines that harnessed the power of Niagara Falls.

This essential biography is illustrated with sixteen pages of photographs, including the July 20, 1931, Time magazine cover for an issue celebrating the inventor’s career.

“A deep and comprehensive biography of a great engineer of early electrical science--likely to become the definitive biography. Highly recommended.”--American Association for the Advancement of Science

“Seifer's vivid, revelatory, exhaustively researched biography rescues pioneer inventor Nikola Tesla from cult status and restores him to his rightful place as a principal architect of the modern age.” --Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“[Wizard] brings the many complex facets of [Tesla's] personal and technical life together in to a cohesive whole....I highly recommend this biography of a great technologist.” --A.A. Mullin, U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, COMPUTING REVIEWS

“[Along with A Beautiful Mind] one of the five best biographies written on the brilliantly disturbed.”--WALL STREET JOURNAL

“Wizard is a compelling tale presenting a teeming, vivid world of science, technology, culture and human lives.”-
 

Contents

Cover Page Excerpt Title Page Dedication FOREWORD
PREFACE
HERITAGE
CHILDHOOD 185674
COLLEGE YEARS 187582
TESLA MEETS THE WIZARD OF MENLO PARK 188285
LIBERTY STREET 188688
INDUCTION AT PITTSBURGH 1889
THE HEROS RETURN 1900
THE HOUSE OF MORGAN 1901
WORLD TELEGRAPHY CENTER 1901
CLASH OF THE TITANS 1901
THE PASSING OF THE TORCH 1902
WARDENCLYFFE 19021903
THE WEB 19031904
DISSOLUTION 19041906

BOGUS INVENTORS 188990
SOUTH FIFTHAVENUE 189091
THE ROYAL SOCIETY 1892
FATHER OF THE WIRELESS 1893
ELECTRIC SORCERER 1893
THE FILIPOVS 1894
NIAGARA POWER 1894
EFFULGENT GLORY 1894
FIRE AT THE LAB 1895
MARTIAN FEVER 189596
HIGH SOCIETY 189497
SHADOWGRAPHS 1896
FALLS SPEECH 1897
LUMINARIES 189698
SORCERERS APPRENTICE 189697
VRIL POWER 1898
WALDORFASTORIA 1898
COLORADO SPRINGS 1899
CONTACT 1899
THORS EMISSARY 1899
THE CHILD OF HIS DREAMS 19071908
BLADELESS TURBINES 190910
THE HAMMOND CONNECTION 190913
39J P MORGANJR 191214
FIFTH COLUMN 191416
THE INVISIBLE AUDIENCE 191521
TRANSMUTATION 191821
THE ROARING TWENTIES 191827
FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT 192740
LIVING ON CREDIT 192540
LOOSE ENDS 193143
THE FBI AND THE TESLA PAPERS 194356
THE WIZARDS LEGACY
A TECHNICAL DISCUSSION
APPENDIX
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Copyright

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About the author (2011)

A graduate of the University of Chicago and Saybrook University, Marc J. Seifer, Ph.D., is a retired psychology teacher from Roger Williams University. A handwriting expert who has testified in state and federal court, Dr. Seifer has lectured at West Point Military Academy, Brandeis University, the United Nations, the Open Center in New York, LucasFilms Industrial Light & Magic, at Oxford University and Cambridge University in England, and at conferences in Canada, Israel and Croatia and for the Serbian Academy of Sciences. His articles have appeared in Wired, Civilization, The Historian, Psychiatric Clinics of North America and Cerebrum. Featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and Scientific American, Dr. Seifer has also appeared on Coast to Coast Radio, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “The Morning Show” in Canberra Australia, on the BBC, and on TV on American Experience, The History Channel, and Associated Press International. Listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in the World, he is also the author of the novels Rasputin’s Nephew, Doppelgänger, Crystal Night, and Fate Line, and the non-fiction works Transcending the Speed of Light, The Definitive Book of Handwriting Analysis, and Framed! Murder, Corruption & a Death Sentence in Florida. His book Wizard: The Life & Times of Nikola Tesla has been translated into nine languages including Serbian, Russian and Chinese.

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