Nikola Tesla Biography Timeline: Key Moments in the Life of a Genius
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Timeline biography of Nikola Tesla


Embark on a journey through the extraordinary life of Nikola Tesla with our meticulously curated 'Nikola Tesla Biography Timeline'. This comprehensive guide not only traces the pivotal moments of Tesla's life but also weaves them into the broader tapestry of historical and scientific milestones. Experience Tesla's genius from his final days, through the lens of reverse chronology, unveiling the innovations, challenges, and triumphs that marked each step of his journey back to his first breath.

Our timeline is not just a recount of events; it's an immersive exploration designed to place Tesla's achievements and struggles within the vast expanse of history, offering you a unique perspective on how his work intertwined with global developments. The 'Nikola Tesla Legend' team is dedicated to the continual research and enrichment of this biography, ensuring that as we unearth more about Tesla's legacy, you are the first to know. Dive into the life of the inventor who electrified the future, and discover the man behind the mind that powered the world. Join us on this enlightening voyage through 'Nikola Tesla's Biography Timeline', where history and innovation converge.


  1. 2022
  2. ...
  3. 2020The movie Tesla was made, in which Tesla is played by Ethan Hawke.
  4. 2017Nicholas Hoult plays Nikola Tesla in the movie The Current War.
  5. 2006In Smiljan (Croatia), the birthplace of Tesla, the "Nikola Tesla" Memorial Center was opened.
  6. 2006Nikola Tesla appears as a character in the movie Prestige. He was played by David Bowie.
  7. 2006Monument to Nikola Tesla unveiled in Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls, Canada.
  8. 2003Tesla Motors was founded. The name of the company is a tribute to Nikola Tesla.
  9. 1994Nikola Tesla got his corner at 6th Avenue and 40th Street, New York City.
  10. 1984The first Tesla symposium was held in Colorado Springs.
  11. 1982Ben Johnson published the book My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla.
  12. 1980The Croatian director Krsto Papić made the film "The Secret of Nikola Tesla".
  13. 1977Radio Television Zagreb recorded a biographical TV series of Nikola Tesla.
  14. 1976Nikola Tesla's demonstration cabinet was opened in the Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb.
  15. 1976Monument to Nikola Tesla erected on Goat Island, Niagara Falls, New York.
  16. 1975IEEE Nikola Tesla Award is established and given annually to an individual or team that has made an outstanding contribution to the generation or utilization of electric power.
  17. 1975Tesla was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in the United States.
  18. 1963The Nikola Tesla Technical Museum in Zagreb is open to the public.
  19. 1957Tesla's ashes were transferred from the USA to the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.
  20. 1956A monument to Nikola Tesla was erected in Zagreb. The monument was created by Ivan Meštrović, a famous sculptor and good friend of Nikola Tesla.
  21. 1956Sava Kosanović, nephew of Nikola Tesla, died
  22. 1956“Tesla” is adopted as the name for the unit of measure for the flux density of magnetic fields.
  23. 1955The Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade is open to the public.
  24. 1951Tesla's property was returned to Yugoslavia.
  25. ...
  1. 1940s
  2. ...
  3. 1947Breaking of the sound barrier.
  4. 1946First images of the Earth taken from space.
  5. 1946Tesla's nephew Nikola Kosanović returned to the United States as Yugoslav ambassador and began preparations for the return of Tesla's papers and other assets to Yugoslavia.
  6. 1945End of World War II in Europe.
  7. 1945The US military is interested in Tesla's "death ray," and his papers.
  8. 1944Pulitzer Prize-winning author John J. O'Neil published the book Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla. The author was a close friend of Tesla.
  9. 1943The United States Supreme Court, held Marconi's most important patent invalid, recognizing Tesla's more significant contribution as the inventor of radio technology.
  10. 1943The funeral of Nikola Tesla took place in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. 2000 people attended the funeral, including several Nobel laureates
  11. 1943On 10 January 1943, New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia read a eulogy written by Slovene-American author Louis Adamic live over the WNYC radio while violin pieces "Ave Maria" and "Tamo daleko" were played in the background.
  12. 1943Two days after the death of Nikola Tesla, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ordered the Alien Property Custodian to seize Tesla's belongings.
  13. 1943On 7 January 1943, at the age of 86, Tesla died alone in Room 3327 of the Hotel New Yorker.
  14. 1942Yugoslav King Petar II visited Nikola Tesla in his room in the New Yorker Hotel.
  15. 1942The Manhattan Project begins.
  16. 1941Germany invaded Yugoslavia.
  17. 1941Despite Tesla’s claims that he was feeling well, his health was in decline.
  18. 1940Tesla announced that he was ready to work with Washington to introduce a new beam weapon.
  19. ...
  1. 1930s
  2. ...
  3. 1939Germany invades Poland and WWII begins.
  4. 1937Tesla claimed in a letter to have completed a "dynamic theory of gravity" that "[would] put an end to idle speculations and false conceptions, as that of curved space".
  5. 1937Tesla was hit by a taxi. He refused medical help, but the accident damaged his health.
  6. 1936The Hoover Dam is completed.
  7. 1935Tesla described relativity as "a beggar wrapped in purple whom ignorant people take for a king".
  8. 1935Tesla published an article in Liberty Magazine “A MACHINE to END WAR”. In the article, Tesla predicted what the world would look like in 100 years.
  9. 1934Tesla Moves to the Hotel New Yorker where he spent the rest of his life.
  10. 1932The neutron is discovered by James Chadwick.
  11. 1931Thomas Alva Edison died at the age of 84. Tesla contributed the only negative opinion to The New York Times.
  12. 1931Tesla turned 75 and received numerous congratulatory letters from many prominent scientists, including Albert Einstein.
  13. 1931Tesla is on the cover of Time Magazine.
  14. 1930Tesla moves to the Hotel Governor Clinton.
  15. 1930Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
  16. ...
  1. 1920s
  2. ...
  3. 1928Accidental rediscovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming.
  4. 1928Tesla received his last patent, U.S. Patent 1,655,114, for a biplane design capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL).
  5. 1927World population reaches two billion.
  6. 1926Tesla received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Engineering, University of Belgrade.
  7. 1925Tesla moves to the Penn Hotel.
  8. 1924In an interview with the Galveston Daily News, Tesla spoke about his view of relationships between men and women.
  9. 1923Time Magazine is first published.
  10. 1923Tesla moves to the Marguery Hotel.
  11. 1922Tesla's favorite pigeon died.
  12. 1920League of Nations founded.
  13. ...
  1. 1910s
  2. ...
  3. 1919Tesla published a series of articles for the Electrical Experimenter. Ben Johnstone compiled these letters in the book My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, published in 1982.
  4. 1918The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ends World War I.
  5. 1918The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs is established.
  6. 1918Beginning of the Spanish flu pandemic, which lasts until April 1920 and kills tens of millions.
  7. 1917Tesla temporarily moved to Chicago, where he worked for Payle National on improving their turbines.
  8. 1917Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal, the most coveted electrical prize in the United States.
  9. 1917USA joins the Allies for the last 17 months of World War I.
  10. 1917Wardenclyffe Tower is demolished. The brick building still stands today.
  11. 1916Tesla went bankrupt. An article about Tesla's financial problems appeared in the New York World newspaper.
  12. 1915A New York Times article announced that Tesla and Edison were to share the Nobel Prize in Physics, but neither received the prize.
  13. 1915Wardenclyffe Tower is sold to the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where Tesla lived on debt.
  14. 1914George Westinghouse died at the age of 67.
  15. 1914Gavrilo Princip assassinates Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, triggering the start of World War I.
  16. 1913Niels Bohr formulates the first cohesive model of the atomic nucleus, and in the process paves the way to quantum mechanics.
  17. 1913Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
  18. 1912John Jacob Astor died in the sinking of the Titanic. He was Tesla's largest investor.
  19. 1911Ernest Rutherford identifies the atomic nucleus.
  20. 1911Tesla works intensively on steam turbines and other inventions.
  21. 1910Tesla moves his office to the Metropolitan Tower, which was the tallest building at the time.
  22. ...
  1. 1900s
  2. ...
  3. 19091909. Marconi received the Nobel Prize for radio. His work was based on the discoveries of Tesla.
  4. 1908Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina, triggering the Bosnian Crisis.
  5. 1908First commercial radio transmissions.
  6. 1908The Ford Motor Company invents the Model T.
  7. 1907Tesla opened a new office at 165 Broadway.
  8. 1907Tesla was elected an active member of the New York Academy of Sciences.
  9. 1908Tesla presented its bladeless turbine.
  10. 1906Tesla turned 50 years old.
  11. 1906The Tesla tower project is finally abandoned.
  12. 1905Albert Einstein's formulation of special relativity.
  13. 1904Due to electricity debts, Tesla's laboratory in Colorado was demolished and sold as lumber.
  14. 1904J.P. Morgan refused to further fund Tesla's tower, and the two broke off.
  15. 1903First controlled heavier-than-air flight of the Wright Brothers.
  16. 1902Willis Carrier invents the first modern electrical air conditioning unit.
  17. 1901Construction of Tesla Tower, also known as Wardenclyffe Tower, has begun. The main financier was J.P. Morgan, who invested $150,000 in the project.
  18. 1901First Nobel Prizes awarded.
  19. 1901Marconi established wireless communication between Britain and the Newfoundland, Canada
  20. 1900Tesla started the Tesla Ozone Company.
  21. 1900Tesla chose Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City as his residence.
  22. 1900Century Magazine published an article about Tesla's discoveries under the title "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy."
  23. ...
  1. 1890s
  2. ...
  3. 1899Tesla claims that he has discovered terrestrial stationary wawas that will allow electricity to be sent around the world.
  4. 1899Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs.
  5. 1898Tesla demonstrated a boat that used a coherer-based radio control.
  6. 1898Zeppelin LZ 1 airship first produced.
  7. 1897First electric bicycle produced by Hosea Libbey.
  8. 1896Tesla patented the basic system of the radio.
  9. 1896Tesla constructed an instrument for receiving radio waves.
  10. 1896Nikola Tesla was elected a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb, Croatia.
  11. 1896Electricity from the Niagara Power Plant is transmitted over a distance of 22 km to Buffalo, New York. This event is considered the beginning of the electrification of the world thanks to Tesla and Westinghouse.
  12. 1895Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-Rays.
  13. 1895The Century Magazine published the article Tesla's Oscillator and Other Inventions.
  14. 1895The first large generator of the Niagara Falls power plant, built on the basis of Nikola Tesla's patents, began operation.
  15. 1895Tesla's laboratory on South Fifth Avenue burned down with his valuable works.
  16. 1894Tesla began investigating what he referred to as radiant energy later identified as X-Rays.
  17. 1894First gramophone record.
  18. 1893The Century Magazine published Tesla's principles of telegraphy without wire
  19. 1893Tesla gave a famous lecture at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia
  20. 1893Tesla stunned the world with a AC demonstration at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
  21. 1892Tesla visits Belgrade, where he is received by the Serbian king Aleksandar Obrenović.
  22. 1892Tesla visits his uncle Pajo Mandić in Varaždin (Croatia) and becomes a fan of Varaždin wines.
  23. 1892Tesla gives a lecture in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
  24. 1892Tesla arrives in Gospić (Croatia) only a few hours before the death of his mother.
  25. 1892Tesla travels to Europe where he gives lectures in London and Paris.
  26. 1891Tesla waives royalties on motor power in favor of Westinghouse. The worst decision of his life.
  27. 1891Tesla invented the Tesla coil.
  28. 1891Tesla gives a lecture "Experiments with Alternate Currents of Very High Frequency and Their Application to Methods of Artificial Illumination" in front of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE).
  29. 1891Tesla becomes an American citizen.
  30. 1890Tesla moves his laboratory to 33-35 South 5th Avenue.
  31. ...
  1. 1880s
  2. ...
  3. 1889Tesla opened a new laboratory at 175 Grand St.
  4. 1888Tesla works at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh.
  5. 1888Tesla sold the patents for the A.C. Polyphase System to George Westinghouse
  6. 1888Tesla's paper "A New System of Alternate-Current Motors and Transformers" was read before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE).
  7. 1887Tesla begins to work with American patent attorney Charles F. Peck.
  8. 1886Tesla works as a ditch digger for $2 per day to survive.
  9. 1886Construction of the Statue of Liberty; Coca-Cola is developed.
  10. 1886Karl Benz sells the first commercial automobile.
  11. 1885Karl Benz produced first car with internal combustion engine.
  12. 1885Tesla started the Tesla Electric Company.
  13. 1885Louis Pasteur creates the first successful vaccine against rabies.
  14. 1884Mark Twain publishes Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
  15. 1884First electric car produced by Thomas Parker in Wolverhampton.
  16. 1884Tesla comes to America and starts working for Thomas Edison.
  17. 1883In Strassbug, Tesla produced his first induction electric motor powered by alternating current.
  18. 1882Tesla discovered Magnetic Induction Field Principle.
  19. 1882Tesla starts working for Continental Edison in Paris.
  20. 1881First electrical power plant and grid in Godalming, Britain.
  21. 1881Tesla works as a draftsman at the Telegraph Office in Budapest.
  22. 1880Tesla goes to study in Prague, Czech Republic.
  23. ...
  1. 1870s
  2. ...
  3. 1879Milutin Tesla, the father of Nikola Tesla, has died.
  4. 1879Thomas Edison tests his first light bulb.
  5. 1879Tesla was deported from Maribor because he did not have a residence permit.
  6. 1878Tesla goes to Maribor, Slovenia, and works as a draftsman for a local engineering firm.
  7. 1878First commercial telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut.
  8. 1877Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
  9. 1876Tesla lost his scholarship and did not manage to finish the second year of studies.
  10. 1875Tesla receives a scholarship and studies at the Polytechnic University in Graz, Austria.
  11. 1874Tesla moves to Tomingaj near Gračac to recover from cholera and avoid military service.
  12. 1873Tesla finished his education in Rakovac and returned to Gospić, where he fell ill with cholera.
  13. 1871The period of the second industrial revolution begins and lasts until 1914.
  14. 1870The Long Depression begins in Western Europe and North America.
  15. 1870Tesla started attending the Higher Real Gymnasium in Rakovac near Karlovac.
  16. ...
  1. 1860s
  2. ...
  3. 1866Tesla starts attending Lower Real Gymnasium in Gospić.
  4. 1866Successful transatlantic telegraph cable follows an earlier attempt in 1858.
  5. 1865Gregor Mendel formulates his laws of inheritance.
  6. 1865The Reconstruction era began in the United States and slavery is banned.
  7. 1865The American Civil War ended.
  8. 1863Tesla's brother Dane died when he fell off a horse at the age of 12.
  9. 1862Tesla started attending elementary school in Smiljan.
  10. 1861The American Civil War began.
  11. ...
  1. 1850s
  2. ...
  3. 1859Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
  4. 1859Suez Canal is constructed.
  5. 1858Invention of the phonautograph, the first true device for recording sound.
  6. 1856Nikola Tesla was born on July 10 in Smiljan, today's Croatia.
  7. 1856Neanderthal man first identified. Age still unknown.
  8. 1856World's first oil refinery in Romania.
  9. 1855Bessemer process enables steel to be mass-produced.
  10. 1851The Great Exhibition in London was the world's first international Expo or World Fair.
  11. 1850The Little Ice Age ends around this time.
  12. ...
  1. 1800s
  2. ...
  3. 1849The safety pin and the gas mask are invented
  4. 1847Ignaz Semmelweis proposes hand washing as a way to stop the spread of diseases.
  5. 1837Telegraphy patented.
  6. 1833Slavery Abolition Act bans slavery throughout the British Empire.
  7. 1829First electric motor built.
  8. 1826Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
  9. 1825The Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first public railway in the world, is opened.
  10. 1825First isolation of aluminum.
  11. 1820Discovery of Antarctica.
  12. 1804Austrian Empire founded by Francis I.
  13. 1804First steam locomotive begins operation.
  14. 1804World population reaches 1 billion.
  15. 1803William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat".
  16. 1803Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the dwarf planet Ceres.
  17. ...
  1. 1800

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