Born on July 10, 1856, Nikola Tesla was quite possibly one of the greatest inventors in modern history. Originally from Serbia, Tesla emigrated to the United States in 1884, where he became an employee of Thomas Edison. The two would become rivals over differences of opinion about money and electrical currents. Nevertheless, Tesla became one of the most prolific inventors of the 19th and 20th centuries, applying for 278 patents, in addition to coming up with a bunch of theoretical innovations. Sadly, Tesla passed away during World War II, virtually penniless. Here’s a glimpse at some of the stuff that Tesla came up with that the world just didn’t appreciate.

UPDATE: I’ve received a number of comments about Tesla’s ethnicity, so let me clarify. I said he was from Serbia, but he was actually born in Croatia. Tesla was, in fact, an ethnic Serb, though.

1. Radio: Nikola Tesla first demonstrated radio in 1894. The world quickly took notice as a means to gossip with others from a distance. However, Tesla had other ideas in mind. In the late 19th century, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat to the U.S. military, expecting them to jump at the chance to control their equipment remotely. Unfortunately, they didn’t, and the world didn’t start taking radio-control vehicles seriously until the 1960s. Just imagine how different the World Wars might have been if the vehicles were controlled by radio…
2. 

   Tesla with one of his inventions, a wirelessly powered light bulb

   Wireless Energy Transfer: Tesla promoted the idea of being able to power machinery without the hassle of wires. I’m no electrical engineer, so I have no idea how it worked, but he was able to wirelessly power light bulbs as early as 1891. By 1899, Tesla was able to power 200 light bulbs using one electric motor 26 miles away! Here we are over 100 years later, and the closest we’ve come is an overpriced mat that requires special adapters to charge our electronic toys.

3. Free Energy: Tesla also worked on the idea of using renewable energy in order to create electricity. He believed that energy could be harnessed from anywhere in the universe, such as the sun, and even the Earth itself. One of his more ambitious ideas was to utilize the environment in order to wirelessly power planes and boats. His ideas laid the groundwork for the current field of ocean thermal energy conversion, which includes technologies such as desalinization. With cheap and easy access to fossil fuels, though, Tesla’s contemporaries just didn’t see the need to research this innovation further.
4. VTOL Aircraft: Long before the F-35 or the Harrier Jump Jet, Tesla came up with the idea for a plane that could take off and land vertically. You’d think his idea would be awkward, with rotors and such, making it look like the bastard child of a jet and helicopter. However, his idea is the basis of current versions of VTOL aircraft. What’s even more amazing is that Tesla patented his VTOL aeroplane in 1928, yet it didn’t enter into serious development until the 1960s.
5. Death Ray: In 1934, Nikola Tesla claimed to have built a directed-energy weapon that he called a teleforce. Tesla’s teleforce was a charged particle beam projector which was intended for military use. Nobody invested in his idea at the time, so he never got to actually build it. To this day, though, the U.S. government is doing experiments related to Tesla’s “death ray.”

Nikola Tesla was a brilliant man, considered by some to be a mad scientist. However, upon his death in 1943, the U.S. War Department confiscated his materials, classifying them Top Secret. They then spent the following two years making copies of everything Tesla had on file, proving the value of his ideas. Tesla was truly one of the greatest inventors in history, and I’m not just saying that because I’m submitting this via wi-fi.