Nicol Tesla is a recognized genius scientist whose many revolutionary inventions have completely changed human life. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tesla registered hundreds of patents, but he did not make a fortune. In his later years, he was even more penniless. Finally, he died alone in a room in a small hotel in New York, and owed a considerable amount of room fees. How could such a brilliant and unique life end in such a tragic way? Because he lived in an era where he knew very little about mental illness and could not be treated at all.
Tesla, born in 1856, has loved science and engineering since childhood, has an amazing memory, can quickly remember the content of a book, and has a strong ability to learn languages.
23-year-old Tesla
has a very special ability to rely on imagination to build inventions, and calculate all the details of a new device from creation, development to testing in the brain, and rarely draw sketches or drawings for his own designs. This incredible ability to ordinary people is far from the traditional engineering design method.
Tesla is talented, handsome, and has a very charming appearance. From a distance, it is a perfect idol, but it has two obvious shortcomings:
1 is that it is not good at getting along with others. The people who work with him complained about his “over” pride and never admitting that he was wrong. Because of his lack of sociability, it was difficult for him to convince wealthy businessmen to fund his seemingly outrageous forward-looking inventions. The only time he received huge investment from a banker also lost confidence in him because the investor felt he was fooled and refused to invest additional investment, making this project a Waterloo for Tesla.
2. He has no business acumen. In order to make inventions, his invention results have been repeatedly stolen by others. The most famous example is his grudge with Edison .
Tesla and his spiral coil used in their wireless power experiments
Tesla has shown some psychological problems since childhood, but the symptoms of the disease were overshadowed by the light of career success. As you get older and your career frequently encounters obstacles, the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder begin to become very obvious.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, referred to as OCD, is an anxiety disorder characterized by obsession with thoughts and behaviors that go against one's own will. Patients realize that their behavior is irrational and should not be done, but the huge inner anxiety makes them unable to control themselves, and in order to relieve their anxiety, they have to do things that go against their wishes.
Like many people with OCD, Tesla is particularly afraid of bacteria. He washed his hands repeatedly and all food had to be cooked at high temperature. He said this was because he saw a lot of bacteria in the water with a microscope. "You only need to observe these terrible creatures for a few minutes and you will never drink a drop of unsterilized water again."
40 Tesla
When he was 40, in order to avoid physical contact with others, he refused to shake hands when meeting people, and usually wears gloves.
He is obsessed with the number "3" and often performs compulsive rituals related to 3. For example, before entering the building, you will walk around the building three times and need to swim in the swimming pool for 33 laps.
He often dined at the same table in the same restaurant and asked the waiter for 18 napkins. When eating, he will calculate the number of chewing times required to digest the food using the exact value of the food weight.
Check in the hotel, the room number must be multiples of 3. He has to give him 18 clean towels every morning.
He has a deep fear of circular objects and cannot stay next to a woman wearing round earrings. He will cramp all over when he sees pearls.
These strange habits and rituals look funny, but prove that Tesla's mental illness is very serious. His admirers attribute Tesla's actions to just "behaving weirdly", while his critics think Tesla is "absolutely crazy."
Tesla strictly abides by its schedule throughout his life. It is said that he only slept for two hours a night, sometimes taking a nap during the day, and then doing experiments all night. Neighbors are often awakened by the strange noises made by his house at night, and then call the police angrily.His lab assistant said that due to work stress and lack of sleep, Tesla often feels extremely tired and cannot support it during the experiment and fall asleep on the desk. This chronic insomnia has aggravated his mental illness to some extent.
In addition, Tesla also has a family history of mental illness. His father and brother both showed symptoms of schizophrenia and personality disorder. His father would argue fiercely and even violently with the different personalities he had split, while his brothers would frequently experience intense hallucinations.
Tesla himself also said he had experienced hallucinations, and he attributed many of his scientific inventions to the inspiration provided by hallucinations. For example, he said the idea of an AC motor was inspired by the hallucinations of flashing light and flames.
Today, the symptoms of OCD patients can be relieved through medication and psychological treatment, but Tesla was not lucky enough to live in this era. Not only has his disease never been treated, it is not sympathized with and understood by people. People around him think he is "parassy" and "crazy".
As time goes by, Tesla becomes more and more obscured, and its thoughts become more and more bizarre. He believes that it can "light up the earth" by transmitting high-frequency currents in the earth's atmosphere and illuminate the entire city at night. He said he had invented a weapon of death light, a beam of energy that could shoot down aircraft several miles away, and could also form an invisible wall of energy to protect the country from invasion, and enemy soldiers evaporate immediately once they enter.
The last few years of Tesla's life lived alone in Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel, living on milk, bread, honey and vegetable juice. When he was urged to pay the room fee by the hotel, he showed the hotel manager a box and said it contained the new weapons the US government wanted, and he would soon get a lot of money from the US government.
On January 7, 1943, 86-year-old Tesla died in a hotel room. The US military arrived quickly and got the box, asking someone to identify whether it was the legendary device that emitted dead light, which disappointed them. It was just a box of meaningless components and wires.
Tesla's condition deteriorated rapidly in his later years. Since the 1930s, he has frequently claimed to have major inventions, but has never shown any inventions. The Death Light Weapon is one of them, and it only exists in his mind.
Tesla’s last photo before his death
Some theories believe that there is a certain connection between human creativity and mental illness. Is Tesla's creativity related to his obsessive-compulsive disorder? If Tesla's obsessive-compulsive disorder has the opportunity to be treated, will it have more scientific research results or will it lose its inspiration for creation?
Nicol Tesla has left an indelible mark on the world, and his extraordinary achievements have shaped the 20th century, making him one of the greatest inventors in history. His achievements in fighting chronic mental illness have made people admire his tenacious perseverance and tenacity even more.
I am Yaozhiwowo. I hope you like my articles and welcome your attention, comments and likes.
