Tesla: The Life and Times Podcast Stephen Kotowych
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- History
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Discover the man behind the myth. The definitive podcast biography of inventor Nikola Tesla--his fascinating real life, inventions, and legacy.
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Introductions
This is a story of America in the late 19th Century—the Gilded Age. It’s a story of New York City before the automobile. It’s a story of robber barons, of industry, and of inventions that would change the world. And it’s the story of one man—one inventor—in particular: Nikola Tesla.
In this 000 episode, I'll introduce myself, my plans for the podcast, and just what you can expect from this on-going look at the life, inventions, and legacy of Nikola Tesla. And we'll do our best over the course of this series to separate the man and his incredible real life from the myths that have sprung up about him. -
Childhood 1856-1861
Nikola Tesla was born at the stroke of midnight between July 9 and 10, 1856. In this episode, we'll learn about Tesla's childhood years on the rural frontier of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and how early tragedy and a contentious relationship with his father would shape the rest of his life and give him the abilities he needed to make later breakthrough innovations in electricity.
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School Days (1861-1874)
This week, we’ll cover Tesla’s schooling from the time he first enrolled in primary school, right up until he heads off for engineering school in the late 1870s. It’s a major turning point in Tesla’s life, and it makes sense to break there until next time.
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Big Man on Campus (1874 - 1877)
Tesla goes on the lamb not once but twice, with a bit of schooling and a bit of gambling and at least one brush with death keeping him busy in between.
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The Frustrated Montage Years (1878-1882)
If Tesla's life were a movie, these would be the “montage years”--five years edited down into a few minutes (probably with melancholy music playing underneath) showing us that things didn’t work out for our hero for a long time until his big break came at the end of Act 1.
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A Walk in the Park (1882)
The solution to Tesla's alternating current motor problem came to him as a ‘eureka’ moment during a walk in the park in 1882: the rotating magnetic field, and the induction motor. The applications of this innovation would literally change the world.
Customer Reviews
Tesla The life and times
This is a fantastic podcast.
The detail ,the background and the fun facts.
It is amazing!
Mike Larkin Australia
Secret gem of a podcast!
Massive effort went into this amazing and detailed podcast. Will share for sure. Thank you!
Serendipitous discovery!
Stumbled upon this podcast by accident, when I mistakenly thought it was about Telstra, the Australian telecommunications company. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed every episode so far covering the achievements of this remarkable character. Stephen Kotowych’s narration style is very engaging, and delivered with typical Canadian politeness. His knowledge of Tesla’s background is impressive. I suspect they’re close friends, or at least grew up in the same neighbourhood. Looking forward to finding out in future episodes how Tesla managed to turn his talents from inventing electricity to now manufacturing electric cars. Such an interesting career! Perhaps Stephen could consider asking him to appear on the podcast to answer some questions from listeners? I’d love to hear from the great man himself!