My Inventions: The Autobiography

The volume at hand is the autobiography of Nikola Tesla and his most widely cited work. Until his sixties Tesla never wrote about himself, nor did he discuss in interviews his upbringing, education, his life before coming to America, or his personal views on important events that informed his life and work. And then in 1915, in the June 5th issue of the Scientific American, he wrote the first autobiographical article entitled “Some Personal Recollections.” The reason for this short article can be found in occasional newspaper accounts denying Tesla’s priority in the invention of the induction motor. Despite the fact that every lawsuit regarding his priority had been decided in his favor, he chose to publish an article in which he would describe the experiences that were still vivid in his memory about that invention. That is when the public first learned about the critical events that influenced the creation of the rotating magnetic field, the driving force behind the induction motor. It was actually a chain of events stretching all the way back to Tesla’s earliest childhood. Then in January 1919, The Electrical Experimenter magazine ran an announcement by its publisher and editor Hugo Gernsback for a series of articles by Tesla headlined “Nikola Tesla and His Inventions.”

Pred vama je autobiografija Nikole Tesle koja je postala njegovo najviše puta citirano delo. Sve do svojih šezdesetih godina Tesla nije pisao o sebi, niti je u intervjuima govorio o svom odrastanju, školovanju, o periodu života pre dolaska u Ameriku, kao ni o ličnom viđenju važnih događaja koji su obeležili njegov život i rad. A onda je 1915. godine za časopis Scientific American, za broj koji je izašao 5. juna 1915. godine, napisao prvi autobiografski članak „Neka lična sećanja“. Razlog za nastanak ovog kratkog članka bili su povremeni novinski natpisi u kojima je Tesli osporavan prioritet u otkriću indukcionog motora. Iako su svi sudski sporovi vođeni oko prava prvenstva na ovo otkriće presuđeni u Teslinu korist, on je odlučio da objavi članak u kome će opisati iskustva koja su još uvek bila živa u njegovom sećanju na ovo otkriće. Čitaoci su tada prvi put mogli da saznaju o presudnim događajima koji su uticali na nastanak izuma obrtnog magnetnog polja, pokretačke sile indukcionog motora. Bilo je to zapravo klupko događaja čiji je početak dosezao do Teslinog najranijeg detinjstva. A onda se u januaru 1919. godine u časopisu Electrical Experimenter pojavio članak izdavača i glavnog urednika Huga Gernsbeka (Hugo Gernsback, 1884-1967) kojim najavljuje seriju Teslinih članaka pod nazivom „Nikola Tesla i njegovi izumi“.