New documentary about Nikola Tesla

His ideas laid the foundation for the modern power grid, the television and the telephone: The “Terra X” documentary “Nikola Tesla – Magician of Electricity” shows the fascinating life of the visionary inventor.

The film will be shown on Sunday, July 7, 2024, at 19.30:3 p.m. on ZDF and will be available in the media library from Wednesday, July 2024, XNUMX.

Eccentric and ingenious

Nikola Tesla (1856 – 1943) was considered by his fellow human beings to be a self-confident eccentric. His irrepressible spirit of research and a certain talent for showmanship led him from his home in what is now Croatia to the high society of New York.

There he wanted to help his big idea to achieve a breakthrough: the first motor that runs more efficiently with alternating current instead of direct current.

He worked briefly with Thomas Edison, but his breakthrough only came after he moved to Edison's competitor George Westinghouse.

What followed was the famous War of the Electricity: Tesla and Edison fought bitterly for supremacy of “their” electricity system during the electrification of the USA.

Thanks to Tesla's technology, alternating current prevailed, which still flows from sockets today.

Far Ahead of His Time

Tesla now devoted himself to his new goal: he wanted to supply the world with energy wirelessly and was looking for ways to transmit electricity naturally.

Through his demonstrations with wireless fluorescent tubes, he impressed his audience as a “magician of electricity”: He developed the first radio remote control and laid the foundations for radio technology and radar.

But he did not understand how to use his inventions commercially. He was unable to bring his work on his “free energy transfer” to a successful conclusion.

When Tesla finally realized that he had failed, he suffered a nervous breakdown and died alone and impoverished in 1943.

But later developments in the history of technology have made it clear: in many things, Nikola Tesla was simply far ahead of his time.

The program is available in audio description and with subtitles.

PR Agent / © Photo: ZDF, Simon Varsano