Prodigal Genius

Even the gods of old, in the wildest imaginings of their worshipers, never undertook such gigantic tasks of world-wide dimension as those which Tesla attempted and accomplished.
-from Chapter One

First published in 1944 and long a favorite of Tesla fans, this is a definitive biography of the man without whom modern civilization would not exist.

Nikola Tesla, pioneer of electrical engineering, was a close friend of Pulitzer Prize-winning author O'Neill, and here, O'Neill captures the man as a scientist and as a public figure, exploring:

. how Tesla's father inspired his life in engineering
. why Tesla clung to his theories of electricity in the face of opposition
. how the shy but newly popular Tesla navigated the social life of New York in the gay 1890s
. Tesla's friendship with Mark Twain
. the story of Tesla's lost Nobel Prize
. Tesla's dabblings in the paranormal
. and much more.

JOHN JOSEPH O'NEILL (b. 1889) also wrote Engineering the New Age and You and the Universe: What Science Reveals.