Nikola Tesla

Hello. My name is Nikola Tesla, and I want to tell you my story. Have you ever seen a flash of lightning light up the whole sky? Well, my story began on a night just like that. The legend says I was born right at midnight during a huge lightning storm. My family thought it was a special sign that I would be a child of light and do great things. I grew up in a small, peaceful village called Smiljan, surrounded by green fields and tall mountains. From a very young age, I was full of curiosity. I wanted to know how everything worked, especially the mysterious, invisible force called electricity. I would watch the lightning dance in the sky and wonder, "What is that amazing power?". My mother, Đuka, was my biggest hero. She was so clever. She didn't have a big workshop, but she invented all sorts of helpful tools for our home. She showed me that you could build amazing things with just your imagination and your hands. She would tell me, "Nikola, think big.". Watching her create inspired me to become an inventor, too. I started to dream of ways I could use that powerful electricity to help people all over the world.

When I grew up, my head was so full of ideas that I knew I had to go somewhere I could make them real. So, I packed my bags and sailed across the big ocean to America. It was a land of opportunity, and I arrived with big dreams in my heart. My most important idea was about a new kind of electricity I called Alternating Current, or AC for short. At the time, most people used another kind called Direct Current, or DC. DC was good, but it couldn't travel very far. It was like trying to throw a ball that only goes a few feet. My AC electricity was different. It could travel for hundreds of miles, like a ball that could fly all the way across a giant field. I wanted to share this idea with everyone. I met a kind man named George Westinghouse who believed in me and my ideas. Together, we got the chance to show the world how wonderful AC was. In 1893, we lit up the giant World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It was like a magical city of light. People were amazed to see so many bright lights shining all at once. It was a dream come true, but my biggest childhood dream was still waiting. Ever since I was a boy, I had dreamed of harnessing the power of the mighty Niagara Falls. In 1895, I did it. We built a power plant there that used the waterfall's energy to create my AC electricity and send it to nearby cities. The power of nature was finally lighting up people's homes.

Lighting up the world was just the beginning. I had so many other ideas buzzing in my mind. I invented something called the Tesla Coil, which looked like a big metal mushroom. When I turned it on, it could make its own lightning bolts that would crackle and zip through the air. It was my own personal lightning storm in a room. But my biggest, most wonderful dream was to send electricity through the air without any wires at all, like magic. I imagined a world where everyone, no matter where they lived, could have power for free, just by sticking a receiver in the ground. I worked very hard my whole life to make this dream happen. My journey on Earth ended many years ago, but my ideas are still all around you. The electricity that lights up your home, the radio you listen to, and even the remote control you use for your television all started with sparks of imagination from my mind. So, I want you to remember my story and know that it is so important to stay curious. Use your amazing imagination and never, ever stop dreaming. You never know when one of your big ideas might be the one that changes the world for the better.