Among the things I've learned lately, it looks like Tesla is larger than life, and larger than fiction as well. He had patents for radio communications which Marconi used in his experiments. If Tesla had pushed for those developments, he would have been a bigger name today than Marconi.
He improved on Thomas Edison's the electrical distribution model. He invented the alternating current (AC) and this made for a the capability for longer electrical transmissions. Whereas direct current (DC) would have needed repeaters every 10 miles or so, AC did not have that problem. You only needed a long cable and higher voltages, and when the power is in your neighborhood, the voltage would be stepped down via a transformer.
Tesla also one-upped Edison with the light bulb. In more ways than one. Edison owned the patents for the light bulb. The only work around for producing a better light bulb was in the manufacturing process. Tesla created a better light bulb manufacturing process which was cheaper and had better results in creating a vacuum inside the bulb.
In addition to that, Tesla created a bulb which did not use wire filaments, and did not produce heat when lit. This is the precursor of the modern compact flourescent bulb. It was not manufactured then. But we're enjoying the benefits now.
In fiction, his being an OCD type genius trumps Sheldon Cooper any day. His claim to science fiction fame does not only rest on the static energy charges of his inventions, but also on two things he wrote about but did not pursue: the earthquake producing building shaker, and the death ray. It seems that he did create the building shaker, but might have buried the idea and invention because it is too powerful. The death ray was something he wrote about but because his papers were lost inside when he died, this was never pursued.
I just can't stop thinking about Tesla, because his ideas were the basis of some ideas I heard about or are being used today without any attribution to him. Back in 1990, a friend of mine wanted to write a thesis on robotics about how a robot can find a wall socket and plug itself to recharge. (The easy part is knowing when to recharge, so let's skip that.) The way my friend described it, there is residual electromagnetic radiation from wall sockets. So the robot would only need to follow the electromagnetic radiation to it's source and plug itself. Discerning between a microwave and a wall socket can come later. Again that should be the relatively easy part.
The concept of electromagnetic energy from wall sockets as well as other sources inside a home or office is also something which is being researched by electronic goods manufacturers. The research is straight out of Tesla's thinking. Tesla wanted to develop a wireless electrical transmission system. This has been proven on a small scale inside laboratories. Admittedly, the small one quarter-scale devices are still as large as a basketball court.
But there is also the research on smaller devices. In this case, small really does mean small, like cell phones, tablets, laptops, and the like. And even robots. The research is trying to find ways to recharge these small electronic devices via electromagnetic radiation. It might be necessary to get close to the outlet, or any source for that matter, but definitely, it would mean wireless recharging.
Steampunk, as an art movement is unique as the artwork is a marriage of old mechanical and wooden devices with modern electronic devices. The clincher is that the melding of the design works. It is a melding of the innards of the modern device with the design aesthetics of the antique device. Whence you have computers, with keyboards which look like they came from the Victorian era. When Tesla left his homeland, European design was stil very much in Victorian.
There are not too many steampunk movies. In fact, strictly speaking, I would not want to consider "The Prestige" as a steampunk movie, though there are some who categorize it as a steampunk fantasy. This is a weird categorization (like French-Japanese fusion cuisine) because Christopher Priest, the writer, is an established science fiction author. I guess the feel of the movie is very H.G.Wells because of Wells's influence on Priest's writing.
"The Prestige" also used Tesla as a character and story device very adroitly, and on multiple levels.
The movie seems very heavy and dark. It did not unfold, instead it unraveled faster than it was intended to be. It does stand out as a good example of a Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Michael Caine collaboration, even if it did have Hugh Jackman for top billing. It should have been perfect as a Hugh Jackman vehicle because he had prior experience in this genre.
If you like Andy Serkis and David Bowie, you won't notice them in this movie.
It is one of those movies which is very thought-provoking on so many levels.
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