Nikola Tesla: The eccentric genius who invented AC electricity and once fell in love with a pigeon

Public domain

Without Nikola Tesla, many of the conveniences of modern life wouldn't be possible.

The Serbian-American engineer and physicist had over 300 patents worldwide, and his inventions helped pave the way for alternating current (AC), electric motors, radios, fluorescent lights, lasers, and remote control, among many other things.

But he was also highly eccentric — from his bizarre sleeping and eating habits to his love of pigeons.

Here's a glimpse into the fabulous life of one of history's most fascinating geniuses.

Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856 in Smiljan in the Austo-Hungarian Empire (modern-day Croatia).

His father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian Orthodox Priest and his mother, Djuka Mandic, was an inventor of household appliances.

Source: Tesla Society

In college, Tesla was first interested in studying physics and mathematics, but he soon became interested in electricity.

He attended the Realschule, Karlstadt in 1873, the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria and the University of Prague. He took a job as an electrical engineer at a telephone company in Budapest in 1881.

Source: Tesla Society

He had the idea for the induction motor while walking in a park with a friend.

Later, while he was in Strasbourg, France in 1883, he built a prototype of the induction motor (an AC motor powered by electromagnetic induction) and tested it successfully. Since he couldn't get anyone in Europe interested in it, Tesla came to the United States to work for Thomas Edison in New York.

Source: Tesla Society