2-14-18

level one understanding of the science/technology for wireless light and power

• an AC current can be turned into electromagnetic waves
  
• electromagnetic waves (radio waves, microwaves) can be turned back into an AC current
• people are still trying to figure out exactly what an electromagnetic wave is
  
• you can transmit power through the air, with no wires
• you can use this to light up certain kinds of lights and possibly run a motor
  

Tesla agreed to help Westinghouse by tearing up his contract

• Tesla was not hard-headed about business

He lost his favorite assistant, Szigeti

Tesla focused on lighting based on very high frequency AC

ignored the possibility of radio--interesting case of multiple invention
Marconi started playing just a little later with generating electromagnetic waves and using it for communication--that became radio
two inventors look at the same base technology and imagine doing different things with it

he had an odd way of understanding this, as motion in the ether (aether) rather than waves
his electric lights worked with one wire, or even with none
lectures at Columbia and in Europe
Tesla successfully publicized it and people expected it to have commercial potential

Tesla was excited about transmitting electricity over a distance for light and power
he invented a wire that needed only one wire

meanwhile AC was catching on and a European experiment showed that polyphase AC could be transmitted efficiently
Tesla was worried that his patents would not hold
gave successful lectures--
then rushed to the bedside of his dying mother in Gospic

this was supposed to be the material that carried light waves
But Einstein proved it can't exist in 1905

argument over whether electromagnetic waves were more like water waves or sound waves
in the middle of a lot of stress he had an idea about using power from the earth