尼古拉?特斯拉和他的塔：一世沉浮

廖鹏程

他是一位开创性的发明家，一生独自取得700多项发明专利，创造了一系列令人惊叹甚至是改变世界的装置。他在电磁场领域有着多项革命性的发明，他的相关专利以及电磁学的理论研究是现代无线通信和无线电的基石。他不仅发现了旋转磁场，更将人们引向机器人、计算机以及导弹科学等领域。他被称为人类有史以来最伟大的天才，但一生充满坎坷：成就在有生之年未得到应有认可；身体状况欠佳，长期遭受强迫症和恐惧症的困扰；晚年穷困潦倒。他，就是天才科学家尼古拉·特斯拉。本文中，我们就来走近谜一样的特斯拉，了解他那令人唏嘘的一生。

By the end of his brilliant and tortured life， the Serbian physicist， engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla was penniless and living in a small New York City hotel room. He spent days in a park surrounded by the creatures that mattered most to him—pigeons—and his sleepless nights working over mathematical equations and scientific problems in his head. That habit would confound scientists and scholars for decades after he died， in 1943. His inventions were designed and perfected in his imagination.

Tesla believed his mind to be without equal， and he wasnt above chiding1） his contemporaries， such as Thomas Edison， who once hired him. “If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack，” Tesla once wrote， “he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor.”

But what his contemporaries may have been lacking in scientific talent （by Teslas estimation）， men like Edison and George Westinghouse2） clearly possessed the one trait that Tesla did not—a mind for business. And in the last days of Americas Gilded Age3）， Nikola Tesla made a dramatic attempt to change the future of communications and power transmission around the world. He managed to convince J. P. Morgan4） that he was on the verge of a breakthrough， and the financier gave Tesla more than $150，000 to fund what would become a gigantic， futuristic and startling tower in the middle of Long Island， New York. In 1898， as Teslas plans to create a worldwide wireless transmission system became known， Wardenclyffe Tower5） would be Teslas last chance to claim the recognition and wealth that had always escaped him.

The Early Life of the Great Genius

Nikola Tesla was born in modern-day Croatia in 1856； his father， Milutin， was a priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church. From an early age， he demonstrated the obsessiveness that would puzzle and amuse those around him. He could memorize entire books and store logarithmic6） tables in his brain. He picked up languages easily， and he could work through days and nights on only a few hours sleep.

At the age of 19， he was studying electrical engineering at the Polytechnic Institute at Graz in Austria， where he quickly established himself as a star student. He found himself in an ongoing debate with a professor over perceived design flaws in the direct-current （DC） motors that were being demonstrated in class. “In attacking the problem again I almost regretted that the struggle was soon to end，” Tesla later wrote. “I had so much energy to spare. When I undertook the task it was not with a resolve such as men often make. With me it was a sacred vow， a question of life and death. I knew that I would perish if I failed. Now I felt that the battle was won. Back in the deep recesses of the brain was the solution， but I could not yet give it outward expression.”

He would spend the next six years of his life “thinking” about electromagnetic fields and a hypothetical motor powered by alternate-current that would and should work. The thoughts obsessed him， and he was unable to focus on his schoolwork. Professors at the university warned Teslas father that the young scholars working and sleeping habits were killing him. But rather than finish his studies， Tesla became a gambling addict， lost all his tuition money， dropped out of school and suffered a nervous breakdown. It would not be his last.

In 1881， Tesla moved to Budapest， after recovering from his breakdown， and he was walking through a park with a friend， reciting poetry， when a vision came to him. There in the park， with a stick， Tesla drew a crude diagram in the dirt—a motor using the principle of rotating magnetic fields created by two or more alternating currents （AC）. While AC electrification had been employed before， there would never be a practical， working motor run on alternating current until he invented his induction motor7） several years later.

The Inventions and Researches in the USA

In June 1884， Tesla sailed for New York City and arrived with four cents in his pocket and a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor—a former employer—to Thomas Edison， which was purported to say， “My Dear Edison： I know two great men and you are one of them. The other is this young man！”

A meeting was arranged， and once Tesla described the engineering work he was doing， Edison， though skeptical， hired him. According to Tesla， Edison offered him $50，000 if he could improve upon the DC generation plants Edison favored. Within a few months， Tesla informed the American inventor that he had indeed improved upon Edisons motors. Edison， Tesla noted， refused to pay up.

Tesla promptly quit and took a job digging ditches. But it wasnt long before word got out that Teslas AC motor was worth investing in， and the Western Union Company put Tesla to work in a lab not far from Edisons office， where he designed AC power systems that are still used around the world. “The motors I built there，” Tesla said， “were exactly as I imagined them. I made no attempt to improve the design， but merely reproduced the pictures as they appeared to my vision， and the operation was always as I expected.”

Tesla patented his AC motors and power systems， which were said to be the most valuable inventions since the telephone. Soon， George Westinghouse， recognizing that Teslas designs might be just what he needed in his efforts to unseat Edisons DC current， licensed his patents for $60，000 in stocks and cash and royalties8） based on how much electricity Westinghouse could sell. Ultimately， he won the “War of the Currents，” but at a steep cost in litigation and competition for both Westinghouse and Edisons General Electric Company.

Fearing ruin， Westinghouse begged Tesla for relief from the royalties Westinghouse agreed to. “Your decision determines the fate of the Westinghouse Company，” he said. Tesla， grateful to the man who had never tried to swindle him， tore up the royalty contract， walking away from millions in royalties that he was already owed and billions that would have accrued in the future. He would have been one of the wealthiest men in the world—a titan of the Gilded Age.

His work with electricity reflected just one facet of his fertile mind. Before the turn of the 20th century， Tesla had invented a powerful coil9） that was capable of generating high voltages and frequencies， leading to new forms of light， such as neon and fluorescent10）， as well as X-rays. Tesla also discovered that these coils， soon to be called “Tesla Coils，” made it possible to send and receive radio signals. He quickly filed for American patents in 1897， beating the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi to the punch.

Tesla continued to work on his ideas for wireless transmissions when he proposed to J. P. Morgan his idea of a wireless globe. After Morgan put up the $150，000 to build the giant transmission tower， Tesla promptly hired the noted architect Stanford White of McKim， Mead， and White in New York.

“As soon as completed， it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions， and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere，” Tesla said at the time. “He will be able to call up， from his desk， and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe， without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An inexpensive instrument， not bigger than a watch， will enable its bearer to hear anywhere， on sea or land， music or song， the speech of a political leader， the address of an eminent man of science， or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman， delivered in some other place， however distant. In the same manner any picture， character， drawing or print can be transferred from one to another place. Millions of such instruments can be operated from but one plant of this kind.”

White quickly got to work designing Wardenclyffe Tower in 1901， but soon after construction began it became apparent that Tesla was going to run out of money before it was finished. An appeal to Morgan for more money proved fruitless， and in the meantime investors were rushing to throw their money behind Marconi. In December 1901， Marconi successfully sent a signal from England to Newfoundland. Tesla grumbled that the Italian was using 17 of his patents， but litigation eventually favored Marconi and the commercial damage was done. Thus the Italian inventor was credited as the inventor of radio and became rich. Wardenclyffe Tower became a 186-foot-tall relic， and the defeat—Teslas worst—led to another of his breakdowns. “It is not a dream，” Tesla said， “it is a simple feat of scientific electrical engineering， only expensive—blind， faint-hearted， doubting world！”

Later Years

By 1912， Tesla began to withdraw from that doubting world. He was clearly showing signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder， and was potentially a high-functioning autistic. He became obsessed with cleanliness and fixated11） on the number three； he began shaking hands with people and washing his hands. He had to have 18 napkins on his table during meals， and would count his steps whenever he walked anywhere.

Near the end of his life， Tesla became fixated on pigeons， especially a specific white female. One night， Tesla claimed the white pigeon visited him through an open window at his hotel， and he believed the bird had come to tell him she was dying. The pigeon died in his arms， and the inventor claimed that in that moment， he knew that he had finished his lifes work.

He died in 1943， in debt， although Westinghouse had been paying his room and board at the hotel for years.

尼古拉·特斯拉，塞尔维亚裔物理学家、工程师、发明家，才华横溢却又一生坎坷，在其风烛残年之际，落得身无分文，寄居在纽约市的一家小旅馆里。白天，他待在公园里，与自己最喜爱的动物鸽子为伴；无眠的夜晚，他钻研着脑子里的数学方程式和科学难题。他的这一习惯在他1943年去世之后困扰科学家和学者们达几十年之久。他凭借想象设计并完善他的发明创造。

特斯拉认为自己的头脑举世无双，他还常嘲笑同时期的一些科学家，比如曾聘用过他的托马斯·爱迪生。“如果爱迪生要在干草堆中找一根针的话，”特斯拉曾写道，“他会像勤劳的蜜蜂一样立即开始检查每根干草，直至发现搜寻的目标。看到他这么做我觉得他真可怜，原本用上一点点理论和计算就能省去他90%的劳动。”

虽然他同时代的人可能在科学天赋方面有所欠缺（特斯拉的评判），但是很明显，像爱迪生和乔治·威斯汀豪斯这样的人拥有一种特斯拉并不具备的特质——商业头脑。当时美国镀金时代已经接近尾声，特斯拉做了一个激动人心的尝试，他想要改变全球通信和电力传输的未来。他设法说服J. P. 摩根，让他相信自己的工作即将取得突破。于是，这位金融家为特斯拉提供了15万多美元，资助他在纽约长岛中部建造一座令人叹为观止的未来主义风格的巨塔。1898年，特斯拉要建造全球无线传输系统的计划为外界所知晓，对他来说，若要获得名气和财富这些总与他失之交臂的东西，沃登克里弗塔是最后的机会了。

科学怪才初露头角

尼古拉·特斯拉1856年出生于现今的克罗地亚，他的父亲米卢廷是一名塞尔维亚东正教牧师。很小的时候，特斯拉所表现出的执着就让他身边的人觉得既迷惑不解又感到很有趣。他能把整本整本的书背下来，把对数表熟记于心。他能轻松学会多种语言，而且能连续好多天通宵达旦地工作，只需几个小时的睡眠。

19岁的时候，他在奥地利的格拉茨理工学院读电气工程专业，很快便成了那里的明星学生。他认为课堂上展示的直流发动机有觉察到的设计缺陷，为此卷入一场持续不断的争论，对方是一名教授。“再次应对这一问题的时候，斗争很快就结束了，我几乎都有点惋惜，”特斯拉后来写道，“我有很多能量用不完。当我开始这项任务的时候，我的决心非比寻常。对我而言，这是神圣的誓言，是生死攸关的问题。我知道如果失败的话我就完了。现在我觉得我赢得了这场战斗。解决方案就在我的脑海深处，但是我还不能表达出来。”

他把生命中此后的六年花在了“思考”电磁场和一种他设想的电动机上，这种由交流电驱动的电动机将会也应该能够运转。他满脑子都想着这些，无法专心学业。大学的教授们警告特斯拉的父亲，这名年轻学者的工作和睡眠习惯会要了他的命。但是特斯拉非但没有完成学业，反而对赌博上了瘾，将学费输了个精光，中途退学，精神崩溃。而这并不是他最后一次精神崩溃。

1881年，在从精神奔溃中恢复过来之后，特斯拉来到了布达佩斯。一次他和朋友在公园里一边散步，一边吟诵诗歌，突然就有了灵感。就在这个公园里，特斯拉用一支木棍在地上画了一张草图，画的是一种以旋转磁场为工作原理的发动机，旋转磁场由两股或更多的交流电产生。虽然之前已经有人运用过交流电电气化技术，但是一直没有依靠交流电工作的实用电动机问世，直至特斯拉多年后发明了感应电动机。

在美国的开创性发明与研究

1884年6月，特斯拉乘船前往纽约，抵达纽约的时候，口袋里只剩四美分和一封推荐信。推荐信是他之前的雇主查尔斯·巴彻拉写给托马斯·爱迪生的。据称信是这样写的：“亲爱的爱迪生：我认识两个了不起的人物，一位是您，另一位就是这位年轻人！”

两人安排见了一次面。在特斯拉介绍了自己正在从事的工程方面的工作后，爱迪生虽然心有疑虑，但还是聘用了他。据特斯拉讲，爱迪生提出，如果他能够对爱迪生中意的直流发电厂进行改进，爱迪生将给特斯拉五万美元。没过几个月，特斯拉就告诉这位美国发明家，他确实已经改进了爱迪生的发动机。但特斯拉称爱迪生却拒绝付钱。

特斯拉立即辞了职，找了一份挖排水沟的工作。但是，不久就有消息传出说，特斯拉的交流电动机值得投资，于是西部联盟电报公司就聘用特斯拉到实验室工作，那里距离爱迪生的办公室不远。在那里，特斯拉设计出了多种现今全世界仍在使用的交流电电力系统。“我在那儿造的电动机，”特斯拉说，“和我当初的想象完全一样。我都不用改进设计，直接就根据我设想的样子复制出来了，运转情况总是不出我所料。”

特斯拉为他的交流电动机和电力系统申请了专利。据说，这是自电话问世以来最值钱的发明。很快，乔治·威斯汀豪斯认识到，要打败爱迪生的直流电，他所要的可能就是特斯拉的设计。威斯汀豪斯以股票、现金和技术使用费的形式，支付给特斯拉六万美元，获得了他的专利使用权，技术使用费与西屋电气公司能够卖出的电量挂钩。最终，威斯汀豪斯赢得了这场“电流之战”，但是由于西屋电气公司和爱迪生的通用电力公司之间的诉讼和竞争，他也付出了高昂的成本。

由于担心公司会破产，威斯汀豪斯乞求特斯拉减免西屋电气公司已经允诺的技术使用费。“西屋电气公司的命运取决于你的决定。”他说。特斯拉很感激这个从来不试图欺骗他的人，他撕毁了技术使用费合约，让西屋电气公司业已欠他的数百万美元和将来可能累积的数十亿美元从指间溜走。他原本会成为世界上最富有的人之一，成为镀金时代的巨人。

他在电力方面所做的工作只是他多产大脑的一面。19世纪末，特斯拉发明了一种威力强大的线圈，能够发出高电压、高频电，产生各种新形式的光，比如霓虹和荧光，还有X光。很快这些线圈就被人们称为“特斯拉线圈”。特斯拉还发现这些线圈能够收发无线电信号。他迅速于1897年申请了美国专利，击败了意大利发明家古列尔莫·马可尼。

特斯拉继续研究他的无线传输构想，向J. P. 摩根介绍了全球无线网络的设想。在摩根给了他15万美元供其建造巨型传输塔之后，特斯拉迅速聘请了纽约麦金-米德-怀特公司的知名建筑师斯坦福·怀特。

“这座塔一旦建好，商人们在纽约下达指令，便立即能在伦敦或其他地方的分公司得到打印稿，”特斯拉当时说，“拿起办公桌上的电话，他们将能与全球任何一位电话用户交谈，无需对现有设备做任何改动。这种设备花费不多，比手表大不了多少，携带者可以在任何地方，不论是海上或陆地上，听音乐或听歌，或者听政治领袖的讲话、杰出科学家的演说或是牧师雄辩的布道词，无论讲话者在哪个地方，无论距离有多远。图片、符号、草图或是印刷品也可以同样的方式从一地传送到另一地。一座这样的厂房就可以操作数百万计的这种装置。”

1901年，怀特迅速着手设计沃登克里弗塔，但是开工后不久问题就显现出来：在塔没盖好之前特斯拉的资金就会花完。特斯拉请求摩根追加投资却无功而返，与此同时，马可尼却能得到蜂拥而来的投资者的投资。1901年12月，马可尼成功地从英国向纽芬兰发送了一个信号。特斯拉抱怨这个意大利人使用了他的17种专利，但是最终的诉讼结果偏向马可尼，这造成特斯拉无可挽回的商业损失。因此，这位意大利发明家成了无线电的发明者，财源滚滚而来。而沃登克里弗塔变成了一个186英尺高的烂尾工程。这次失败是特斯拉最惨的一次，使得他再一次精神崩溃。“这不是一个梦，”特斯拉说，“这显然是电气工程学上的巨大成就，只是代价有点高昂。这个有眼无珠、胆小怯懦又爱猜疑的世界！”

凄凉的晚年生活

到1912年，特斯拉开始从这个爱猜疑的世界退出。他出现了明显的强迫性神经失调的症状，并且有可能变成高功能自闭症患者。他开始有了洁癖，并迷恋数字“3”；他在跟人握手后马上要去洗手，吃饭的时候餐桌上得准备18条餐巾，并且无论什么时候走到无论什么地方，他都会数步数。

在生命快到尽头的时候，特斯拉开始迷恋鸽子，尤其是一只白色的母鸽子。一天晚上，特斯拉宣称这只白鸽飞过旅馆一扇开着的窗户来看望他，他觉得鸽子是来告诉他自己快要死了。鸽子死在了他的怀里，这名发明家宣称，那一刻，他知道自己已经完成了一生的工作。

特斯拉死于1943，虽然多年来西屋电气公司一直在支付他旅馆里的餐宿费用，但他死时仍债务缠身。