How Nikola Tesla found inspiration in poetry to finalize one of his most important inventions

Nikola Tesla was a remarkable man, an extraordinary scientist and inventor. We come from the same part of the world, and I have always admired his work and vision of the future. His approach to life, persisting through the many challenges he faced, inspired me. According to a family legend, he was born during a fierce lightning storm. Seeing it as a bad omen, the midwife declared that the child would be a child of darkness. His mother immediately replied, “No, he will be a child of light.” Years later, Telsa became known to many as the “Genius who lit the world”.  

One of the lesser-known facts about Tesla is that he was also a great fan of poetry. It was an excerpt from Goethe’s play Faust that inspired Tesla to finalize his invention of the alternating current motor – a “world-changing invention”. Nearly all of Part One and the majority of Part Two of Faust are written in rhymed verse, and it is considered the greatest work of German literature. Tesla could read it in German as he could speak 8 languages, including Serbo-Croatian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and even Latin.  

One day in 1882 Tesla went for a walk with his friend Antal Szigety in Budapest. While walking through a park Tesla recites a poetic passage by heart. As the sun was setting, an extraordinary moment unfolded when the solution he had been relentlessly seeking – regarding the rotating magnetic field – suddenly appeared in his mind. Tesla envisioned an iron rotor spinning rapidly within a rotating magnetic field, brought to life by the interaction of two alternating currents out of sync with each other. At that very moment, one of the greatest discoveries of all me was born, forever etching its significance in history. Drawing from his incredible memory, Tesla crafted the blueprint for the first induction motor. In the summer of 1883, while working in Strasburg, France, Tesla brought his vision to life and built his first actual induction motor model and saw it run. This groundbreaking invention started the Industrial revolution at the turn of the century.  

Here is a passage from Faust: 

It hastens hence and lo! a new world is alive! Oh, that from earth no wing can li me up to soar And after, ever after it to strive! I'd see in that eternal evening beam, Beneath my feet, the world in stillness glowing, Each valley hushed and every height agleam, The silver brook to golden rivers flowing. The mountain wild with all its gorges Would hinder not the godlike course for me; Before astounded eyes already surges, With bays yet warm, the open sea. And yet at last the god seems to be sinking; But new impulse awakes, to light I hasten on, eternal brightness drinking, Before me day, behind me night, Above me heaven, and under me the billow. A lovely dream, the while the glory fades from sight. Alas! To wings that li the spirit light No earthly wing will ever be a fellow. 

The passage Tesla quotes is about a dream of flying beyond the sun, the heavens, in eternal daylight. As he recited the verses, he found himself immersed in an experience that mirrored the essence of the words he was reading. It is believed that Tesla drew the design for the induction motor in the sand using a stick and suddenly the principles of an electro-motor powered by alternative current became completely clear to him.  

"I would give a thousand secrets of nature upon which I stumbled by accident, in exchange for this one which I extracted from nature, in spite of all the miracles and dangers which I faced", were Tesla's own words. 

Tesla was also a talented poet himself. He would write a lot of his thoughts and musings in the form of poems that would later serve him as a reminder or a guidance in his future work. 

What we can learn from Tesla is that any innovative thinking, be it scientific or otherwise, is nourished by diverse influences, conditions and environments, and that we should keep our senses always open and alert. Harnessing the power of imagination and visualization can lead to innovative solutions and groundbreaking advancements in various fields.  So go on, add a little poetry into your life!