1856-1943

Croatian physicist and electrical engineer who invented a number of important electrical devices, including the AC motor and generator. Tesla was born in Croatia and moved to the United States in 1884, where he worked in Thomas Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Leaving the Edison Works to pursue his own work, Tesla was instrumental in developing alternating current as a more efficient means of electrical power. He was memorialized with the unit of magnetic force, the tesla.