Nikola Tesla

Record year1887

summaryDeveloped an induction motor around the rotating magnetic field and formed a multiphase alternating-current system in 1888. The related technology, collaboration with George Westinghouse, Westinghouse manufacturing engineering, and power-generation and transmission construction at Niagara together form the implementation chain for long-distance power transmission and distribution.

M rationaleOn the existing base of electromagnetic and alternating-current research, Tesla provided usable increments in the rotating magnetic field, motor, and multiphase system; Westinghouse and the Niagara team turned them into an industrial-manufacturing and large-scale power-supply chain. On the common scale, this is a general foundational power system close to the Pearl Street system anchor, hence M6.4; individual design, corporate engineering, and power-station delivery cannot be separated into three complete civilizational achievements.

attribution rationaleTesla receives 0.32, limited to core methods and technical direction; Westinghouse himself and the company's engineering and manufacturing together receive 0.31; Niagara engineering construction receives 0.14; Faraday and other antecedents in electromagnetism and alternating current receive 0.13; adoption and unknown each receive 0.05. Existing evidence is insufficient to attribute the engineering implementation primarily to Tesla.

overlap boundaryThe account covers one continuous system achievement from 1887 to 1896: rotating magnetic fields, induction motors, and multiphase power-supply methods leading to Westinghouse manufacturing and Niagara alternating-current implementation. The motor patents, Chicago demonstration, and Niagara engineering are stages by which one method moved toward industrial service, rather than separate additions to M; it does not claim alternating current itself, later global power grids, or all benefits of electrification.

Evidence gapsThe Westinghouse contract, Niagara design drawings, and itemized manufacturing records have not been read; Tesla's personal share in actual equipment design at Niagara still requires archival calibration.

Record year1897

summaryThe patent granted in 1900 discloses a tuned arrangement with two circuits at each of the transmitting and receiving ends, tuned to the same frequency; its specifications also mention transmitting intelligible messages over long distances. A remote-controlled boat was demonstrated in 1898. Wireless technology also has antecedents and parallel work by Hertz, Marconi, Lodge, Stone, and others.

M rationaleThe tuned circuits and remote-control demonstration constitute a bounded delivery of communication and control methods, assigned M4.2; it does not claim the value of a complete commercial wireless system or of all radio technology. The degree to which the original records have been reviewed is listed separately as a gap and is not applied as a direct discount to M.

attribution rationaleTesla is credited with 42% for the listed technical constructs, 13% for laboratory fabrication, and 8% for demonstration support. The original review mixed precursors and parallel paths into a 30% pool, which cannot yet be individually proven to have directly contributed to this result; therefore, this 30% is temporarily not assigned to any named individual, with another 7% unknown; independent competitors are not automatically considered co-authors.

overlap boundaryThe tuned multi-circuit arrangement at transmitting and receiving ends, filed in 1897, granted in 1900, and verifiable through 1943 court text, together with the 1898 remote-controlled-boat demonstration evidence. Only the bounded circuit method and demonstration are counted; it is not called the invention of radio and does not claim broadcasting, global wireless networks, or Wardenclyffe's uncompleted goals.

Evidence gapsThe original instructions, photographs, and on-site records for the remote-controlled boat have not been checked. Complete patent priority and the legal history of commercial adoption have not yet been established. The dates and direct transmission relationships of Hertz's, Marconi's, Lodge's, Stone's, and others' respective work need to be disentangled; appearing together in a history of technology or a court judgment does not establish contribution to the same achievement.

Record year1891

summaryConducted apparatus experiments and public lectures on high-frequency high-voltage coils, insulation, and electrodeless lighting, documenting various lamps and experiments exciting electrodeless tubes with rapidly alternating electrostatic potentials.

M rationaleThe original lectures directly support apparatus construction, operating phenomena, and technical limits, constituting reviewable experimental instruments and methods rather than a commercial lighting system. Their utility across experiments exceeds that of a single demonstrator object, but evidence of deployment and adoption is lacking, so M3.6 is assigned.

attribution rationaleTesla receives 0.55; laboratory fabrication and assistants 0.15; pre-existing high-frequency electrical and discharge tube research 0.20; lecture support and unknowns each 0.05.

overlap boundaryThe constructed, operated, and publicly lectured-on experiments of 1891 to 1893 in high-frequency high-voltage coils, insulation treatment, and electrodeless discharge-tube lighting. The various lamps are instances of one experimental method and are not scored item by item; unrealized perfect-vacuum lamps, later broadcasting, and all high-voltage applications are excluded.

Evidence gapsEvidence is lacking for independent deployment of each apparatus, patent validity, and industrial adoption; the division of labor among laboratory assistants and in apparatus fabrication is unclear.