The spark of invention

Seventy years after his death, the mystery sυrrουnding electrical engineer Nikola Tesla - particularly his claim to have invented a 'death ray' - is s arking the imagination of movie makers. There's a car company named after him. And an airport, a telecommunications group, a computer graphics processor, a social transformation conference, even a rock band. Scientist, engineer, inventor, futurist and all round genius; Tesla died 70 years ago. Born in 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia. then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Serb parents, he worked in the USA from 1884 onwards. All three countries claim Tesla as their own. So too do the champions of wireless communication, free energy and sustainable living. Those who dream of socialist utopias and complain about capitalist conspiracies see Tesla as one of theirs, as do capitalist entrepreneurs like Tesla Motors' founder Elon Musk and the company's financial backers, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google fame, and former eBay president Jeff Skoll. In Croatia, mobile communications giants Ericsson is called <; Ericsson Nikola Tesla in a nod to its former countryman. There are societies, foundations, clubs and centres all over the world dedicated to a man who filed 278 patents in 26 countries, gave the world its system for directing alternating current and inspired the development of radio. Tesla also invented an energy weapon, created lightning, claimed to be able to pluck energy from the air, and apparently had a machine that created earthquakes - making him intriguing enough for novelists, film makers, comicbook writers and TV producers to use as a fictional character. So, how can one man be so influential in so many, often diametrically opposed, fields?