including the polyphase system of electrical distribution and the AC motor. This work helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.Born an ethnic Serb in the village of Smiljan (now part of Gospic), in the Croatian Military Frontier[1] of the Austrian Empire (modern-day Croatia), Tesla was a subject of the Austrian Empire by birth and later became an American citizen.[2] Because of his 1894 demonstration of wireless communication through radio and as the eventual victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America.[3] He pioneered modern electrical engineering and many of his discoveries were of groundbreaking importance. In the United States during this time, Tesla's fame rivaled that of any other inventor or scientist in history or popular culture.[4] Tesla demonstrated wireless energy transfer to power electronic devices as early as 1893, and aspired to intercontinental wireless transmission of industrial power in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project.Because of his eccentric personality and his seemingly unbelievable and sometimes bizarre claims about possible scientific and technological developments, Tesla was ultimately ostracized and regarded as a mad scientist by many late in his life.[5] Tesla died with little money at the age of 86 in a hotel suite in New York City.[6]The SI unit measuring magnetic field B (also referred to as the magnetic flux density and magnetic induction), the tesla, was named in his honor (at the CGPM, Paris, 1960). Contents[hide]1 Early years 1.1 France and the United States2 Middle years 2.1 American citizenship2.2 Edison2.3 Colorado Springs3 Wardenclyffe years4 Nobel prize and Tesla5 Later years 5.1 Field theories5.2 Directed-energy weapon5.3 Theoretical inventions6 Personal life 6.1 Death7 Legacy and honors 7.1 Monuments7.2 Portrayals in popular culture8 See also9 References 9.1 Notes9.2 Sources9.3 Further reading 9.3.1 Publications9.3.2 Books9.3.3 Journals9.3.4 Filmography10 External links Early years Nikola Tesla's birth house and statue in the village of Smiljan, Croatia Nikola Tesla c.1879 at age 23, and his passport from 1883 Tesla was born to Serbian parents in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire near the town of Gospic, in the territory of modern-day Croatia. His baptismal certificate reports that he was born on 28 June (N.S. 10 July), 1856, to Father Milutin Tesla, a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church.[7] His paternal origin is thought to be either of one of the local Serb clans in the Tara valley or from the Herzegovinian noble Pavle Orlovic.[8] His mother, uka, daughter of a Serbian Orthodox Church priest, came from a family domiciled in Lika and Banija, but with deeper origins to Kosovo. She was talented in making home craft tools and memorized many Serbian epic poems, but never learned to read.[9]Nikola was the fourth of five children, having one older brother (Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Nikola was five) and three sisters (Milka, Angelina and Marica).[10] His family moved to Gospic in 1862. Tesla attended school at Higher Real Gymnasium in Karlovac.[11] He finished a four-year term in the span of three years.[12]Tesla went on to study electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytechnic in Graz