Just a border girl...: Someone Who Fascinates Me and Why

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Someone Who Fascinates Me and Why - DWC Day 25

I took an extra day on this one because I couldn't figure out who fascinates me. My daughter and grand-kids fascinate me for where they came from and who they are becoming. My boyfriend fascinates me because he tries and he loves me which I find fascinating all by itself. But I think to really do this subject justice I'll have to go with someone famous. I have seen many public figures as fascinating. Some I have appreciated for their sheer beauty like Orlando Bloom or Marilyn Monroe. Some I have idolized for the life they were given and how they struggled to overcome such as Helen Keller and Anne Frank. Many people I follow for their physical talents like Mikhail Baryshnikov or Michael Phelps. But what I most appreciate in others is their minds. Brilliant people are in abundance throughout history (though the not so brilliant are in greater abundance): Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates. The person who most fascinates me is Nikolai Tesla.

Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in what is now Croatia and came to the U.S. In 1884. He worked briefly for Thomas Edison until their inventions became competitive. He was censored and controlled through poverty, the government, and through the interests of business moguls like J.P. Morgan.

Tesla invented alternating current (the standard of electrical power), how to harness and distribute light (including florescent bulbs, neon signs, ), the Tesla coil, x-rays, radio, remote control, the electric motor, robotics, the laser, wireless communications, and limitless free energy. Tesla had hundreds of patents and a multitude of other ideas and inventions that remain unreleased.

Tesla fascinates me for being a man of invention and a man of character who has changed the world for the better and could have done so much more for humanity if his ideas weren't held back.