1. Choose three major inventions that have led to successful products.2. Who were the inventors?3. How did they invent the technology?4. Why do you believe they were the first to invent this technology?

Jessica Northey

1. Nikola Teslaa. Predicted wireless communicationb. Prototype destroyed in fire in 1895c. It was Tesla (not Edison) who gave the world electromagnetic

power (AC).d. It was Tesla (not Marconi) who gave the world electromagnetic

communication (Radio).e. It was while he was in Budapest that he devised his rotating

magnetic field principle that made AC a viable means of providing electrical power. He joined the Continental Edison Company in Paris the following year. In 1884, Tesla traveled to the United States in the hopes of generating interest in his new alternating current generator/motor. Upon arriving in the United States he went directly to Edison and offered his ideas about AC. Edison was heavily invested in DC technology so he had no interest in Tesla's plan, but he hired Tesla as an engineer. Disappointed by its outright rejection, Tesla continued to devote himself to Edison's whims even though he knew DC was a dead-end. Edison put Tesla to work redesigning direct current (DC) dynamos. He promised Tesla $50,000 if he could improve this technology.(5) Tesla was driven by his desire to establish his own laboratory with these funds so he could further his own goals of making AC available to the world. He worked incessantly from 10:30 a.m. until 5:00 a.m. the next day, seven days a week.(5,8) After several months Tesla produced twenty-four new DC designs. Edison was pleased but declined to pay him the promised sum. This incident was a bitter blow to Tesla, causing him to leave Edison's employ and seek greener pastures.(2) A group of investors offered him the chance to form the Tesla Electric Light Company, but their interest was in improving the arc light instead of furthering Tesla's plan for AC. Tesla made a significant improvement in arc lighting and then was eased out of the company. Unable to find an engineering position, he worked as a manual laborer, digging ditches and building streets from spring of 1886 until 1887.

f. Tesla's discovery of the rotating magnetic field produced by the interactions of two and three phase alternating currents in a motor winding was one of his most significant achievements, and formed the basis of his induction motor and polyphase system for the generation and distribution of electricity. Large amounts of electrical

power could be generated and transmitted efficiently over long distances. To this day, the three-phase form of Tesla's polyphase system is still used for the generation and transmission of most electricity. Moreover, the conversion of electricity into mechanical power is made possible by updated versions of Tesla's three-phase and split phase motors.(3)

       His experiments with high frequency and high potential alternating currents resulted in the development of the "Tesla coil." This device is a transformer with an air core that has both its primary and secondary tuned in resonance. As part of other experiments Tesla also developed the precursors of modern neon and florescent lights. He constructed these lights, elongated glass tubes filled with gas and coated with phosphor, excited in his high voltage experiments. He also discovered that high voltage current could be made harmless by using alternating current scheme at very large frequencies.(3)

       In 1943, the Supreme Court granted full rights to Tesla for the invention of radio, nullifying the claims of Marchese Gugliemo Marconi who had patented a two-tuned-circuit design and a more practical four-tuned-circuit modeled after Tesla's. Marconi's patent on the invention of radio was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court because Tesla's work predated it (Case #369, 6/21/43). Marconi did succeed in beating Tesla as the first person to send a wireless telegraph across the Atlantic, which prompted Tesla to remark, "Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents." In addition, Tesla’s 1903 patents 723,188 and 725,605 contain the basic principles of the logical AND circuit element basic to all computers.http://web.archive.org/web/19991022041430/www.yale.edu/scimag/Archives/Vol71/Tesla.html

g. The Conspiracy?

John Wagner, the schoolteacher from Ann Arbor, Michigan who mobilized his third grade classes to raise thousands of dollars in funds to create the commemorative bronze bust of Tesla, accuses the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History of presenting "a deliberate assault on factual history." This observation was corroborated by the testimony of Senator Carl Levin who remarked in an address to the president:

"... Nikola Tesla has not been granted his proper place in history. In the Smithsonian Institution, for example, Mr. Edison’s inventions

are justifiably well represented. However, although the museum has included Mr. Tesla’s alternating current generators in their exhibit, no mention is made of Mr. Tesla. In fact the generator is included as part of the Edison exhibit."

Mr. Wagner notes that Edison's bust is not only situated near Tesla's first AC motor/generator, but also "Tesla's U.S. patent number appeared on the motor/generator, [and]...the display was arranged in such a way as to give credit to Edison." He writes that the Tesla display, a small glass showcase containing some of his personal artifacts in a darkened hallway near the men's room, was created in response to recent congressional pressure.

Despite his achievements in the development of the polyphase alternating current motor and his invention of the four-tuned- radio system, Nikola Tesla is also omitted from the Smithsonian publication, Lighting a Revolution.(10) A picture of Tesla's AC generators is shown on the last page of the volume, and his name is omitted as one of the contributors to the science of electricity discussed in the section "The Beginning of the Electrical Age." On his Web page, Wagner accuses the Smithsonian of presenting "distorted history," suggesting that contributions from the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation have influenced the diminution of Tesla's role.(5)

It is not inconceivable that a national institution like the Smithsonian Institution could be subject to such corporate pressures. The recent renovation of the Smithsonian's Insect Zoo at the National Museum of Natural History was partially subsidized by a $500,000 gift from Orkin, the pest control company, which will result in a permanent display of the company's logo. The National Air and Space Museum also launched a recent "Star Trek" display with funding from the company producing the series. http://web.archive.org/web/19991022041430/www.yale.edu/scimag/Archives/Vol71/Tesla.html

1895 Fire destroys Tesla's laboratory Disaster strikes - Tesla's laboratory is completely destroyed by fire, ruining the work of half a lifetime. Tesla is devastated.

1904 Marconi awarded patent for radio The US Patent Office reverses itself, wrongly awarding Guglielmo Marconi the patent for radio! Tesla begins his fight as the inventor of radio

1915 Tesla files lawsuit against Marconi This starts a patent fight that lasts for 29 years. Tesla vs. Marconi is ultimately resolved in Tesla's favor.

1916 Tesla declares bankruptcy Tesla owed back taxes, but was penniless, living in poverty, on credit, at the Waldorf-Astoria

1917 Wardenclyffe Tower is demolished George Boldt destroys tower to make property more marketable. Although the tower was blown up, the main building still stands today.

1917 Tesla receives the Edison Medal The Edison Medal is the most prestigious honor the AIEE can bestow upon an engineer

1928 Tesla receives his last patent at age 72 "Apparatus for Aerial Transportation" - similar to a helicopter or VTOL aircraft (US Patent 1,655,114)

1931 Tesla turns 75 Tesla is honored by being on the cover of Time Magazine, and receives congratulations from more than 70 pioneers in science and engineering including Einstein..

1935 15 out of 16 of Marconi's Patent claims are invalidated by the Court of Claims Tesla is acknowledged to have been prior inventor on these portions of Marconi's patent. The US Supreme Court eventually decides the case in 1944.

976 Tesla Monument given to US by Yugoslavia A monument to Nikola Tesla celebrating the first hydroelectric plant

at Niagara Falls was erected on the US side (Goat Island - between the American and Canadian falls).

2006 - New Tesla Monument unveiled in Niagara Falls park A new monument was erected on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls (at

Queen Victoria Park) celebrating Tesla's role in designing the first hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls (1895).http://teslamania.delete.org/frames/tesla.html

1) Kraftwerk photo Reference: http://kraftwerk.com/photo/index.php

a) Hardly a household name, Kraftwerk is important because, during the 1970s, they basically invented the rock-format synthesizer pop song.

b) Without them you wouldn't have nightclub dance music. You wouldn't have Moby or Fatboy Slim or Bjork (former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos has worked with her). You wouldn't have hip-hop (when Old School was new, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force combined two Kraftwerk riffs on "Planet Rock"). You wouldn't have the '80s-'90s bands like New Order and Depeche Mode, or the Detroit industrial bands that gave rise to the electronica of today that includes Balkanized genres like drum-and-bass and trance.

c) The germ of Kraftwerk began in 1968, when founders Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider - they're pushing 60 now - met while studying classical music in Dusseldorf. They began experimenting with tape recorder manipulation and echo machines, running traditional instruments like

flutes and organ through them. They were part of the Krautrock movement, a German version of prog rock, with a lot of improvisation and other hallmarks of psychedelia. The first Kraftwerk album came out in 1971.

d) By 1974, the acoustic instruments were giving way to synthesizers, and Kraftwerk found brief commercial success with the album "Autobahn," which reached No. 5 on the pop charts. A shortened version of the 22-minute title track was released in the U.S. as a single and was a novelty hit.

e) Through the '70s Kraftwerk perfected the synthesizer pop song, gradually abandoning free form for tightly composed shorter pieces closer to radio-format rock. This jelled with 1978's "The Man-Machine," which was highly influential for British New Wave artists like Human League and OMD. ("Man-Machine " - coming out when everyone else was listening to Styx and the BeeGees - still sounds up-to-date today.) http://www.azcentral.com/ent/music/articles/1119kraftwerk.html

2. Ralph Baera. 1972: The Odyssey by Magnavoxb. “I am an independent engineering consultant and internationally

known inventor generally credited with creating the videogame console industry in the 1960’s.

c. Having been an active engineer for the past seventy years, I have accumulated over 150 U.S. and foreign patents, many of which are in the Consumer Electronics area and have resulted in a variety of products, including many successful electronic toys and games. Typical of these is the SIMON game, an early single-chip microprocessor-controlled game that has been popular for over 30 years.

d. I have been the recipient of many professional honors including the National Medal of Technology, which was presented to me by the President of the United States in 2006, as was an honorable Doctor of Laws degree from Pierce Law Center and many other professional awards. I was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2010.” http://www.ralphbaer.com/

e. “A young Nolan Bushnell played Odyssey at a trade show. Bushnell went on to found Atari and create the arcade version of Baer's Ping-Pong game, the now infamous Pong. Baer's groundbreaking work has shaped the leisure-time activities of a large segment of

the world's population and spawned numerous businesses.” http://invention.smithsonian.org/resources/online_articles_detail.aspx?id=531