STORY OF NIKOLA TESLA

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The Night Nikola Tesla Made the World Glow

It was 1893, and the city of Chicago was alive with anticipation. The World’s Columbian Exposition was about to begin — a massive world fair celebrating the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. But this fair would be different. For the first time in history, a city was to be lit by electricity. 

There were two contenders for the contract to light the fairgrounds: Thomas Edison, with his direct current (DC) system, and the lesser-known Nikola Tesla, working with George Westinghouse to promote his alternating current (AC) system. Many thought Tesla’s ideas were too wild — electricity that pulsed back and forth? Madness! Dangerous!

But Tesla wasn’t just an inventor. He was a visionary.

The moment came. On the opening night, as President Grover Cleveland pushed a button, over 100,000 electric bulbs lit up the fairgrounds in an instant — powered by Tesla’s AC system. People gasped. The entire city was bathed in a clean, powerful light, brighter and more efficient than anything seen before. It was as though Tesla had pulled lightning from the sky and taught it to dance.

Children laughed and pointed at the glowing Ferris wheel. Couples strolled hand-in-hand beneath glittering towers. It was magic. It was the future.

And standing quietly in the background, tall and thin with piercing eyes, was Nikola Tesla — a man who had once fed pigeons alone in New York parks, whose wild ideas often made others laugh. But on that night, the world wasn’t laughing. The world was illuminated by the dreams of Nikola Tesla.

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Would you like a story about another episode in his life — like his work with wireless power, his Colorado Springs experiments, or his later years?