Encountering Personal Problems
Even though Nikola Tesla was a genius he had his fair share of problems. He had many quirks like: being a germaphobe, not liking pearls, and loving numbers that were divisible by three. Tesla spent the last ten years of his life secluded in his hotel room at the New Yorker Hotel penniless. His only companions were his beloved pigeons.
" Friends who knew him well depicted him as an authentic genius whose misfortune may have been that he lived too long, long enough to develop eccentricities." — New York Times, 1956
" Tesla, especially in later years, was a man of extraordinary idiosyncrasies and boastful declarations that sometimes sent his science peers into a rage. His ideas for power transmission through air were dismissed by many as pure fantasy." — William J. Broad, New York Times, 1984.
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" As I looked at her I knew she (the pigeon) wanted to tell me she was dying. And then, as I got her message, there came the light from her eyes—powerful beams of light. Yes, it was real light, a powerful, dazzling blinding light, a light more intense than I had ever produced by the most powerful lamps in my laboratory." — Nikola Tesla talking about his pigeon. 1930s.
"Poor and feeble in his final years, his only known 'love' was a white pigeon that would regularly visit his apartment. It was during these final years that Tesla also spoke openly about a future that most people could not imagine, let alone believe." —Tyler Hamilton, in his book Mad Like Tesla.
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"Tesla was known to have an entire schedule of idiosyncrasies: not shaking hands and fearing germs; counting everything in threes; repelled by pearls and some types of jewelry. I suggested that most of these idiosyncrasies were mere affectations he invented to keep unwanted people from approaching. Later, he would use these same affectations to energize press and reporters with the objective of keeping his name in the news."
— Personal student interview with William H. Terbo, grand-nephew and only living relative of Tesla.
"Physically weary and psychologically defeated, Tesla suffered another nervous breakdown followed by a bout of cholera in the fall of 1905. His more eccentric quirks and foibles became even more pronounced. His handwriting became nearly illegible and the subject of his handwriting (when it could be read) more unhinged. His inventing fell off as well: he failed to file a single patent application from late 1905 until well into 1909." |
—From “Nikola Tesla: The Lost Wizard” by Marc J. Seifer
reprinted in Extraordinary Technology (Volume 4, Issue 1; Jan/Feb/Mar 2006) |