Greatest Electrical Pioneer of all was Nikola Tesla, who was brilliant inventor despite the fact that he had little formal education. Nikola (1856-1943), electrical inventor, was born in Yugoslavia , educated at the polytechnical school at Graz and at University of Prague . He conceived new type of electric motor having no commutator, as d.c. motors have, but works on principle of rotating magnetic field produced by polyphase alternating currents.

Constructing a prototype, he found nobody interested in Europe . Emigrated to U.S. 1884 and worked briefly and unhappily with Thomas Edison. He established own lab and obtained patents on polyphase motors, dynamos, transformers for a complete a.c. power system. He formed an alliance with George Westinghouse, who bought polyphase patents for $1 million plus royalty. With Westinghouse, engaged in struggle against Edison to convince public of efficiency and safety of a.c. over d.c. He succeeded in getting a.c. accepted as the electric power system worldwide which remains to this day.

Also with Westinghouse, he lit the Chicago World’s Fair with fluorescent lamps, he built Niagara Falls hydropower plant, and installed systems at Colorado silver mines, other industries. By turn of the century was lifted to celebrity status comparable to Edison ‘s as media promoted him along with the expanding electric power industry. Experimenting independently in his Manhattan lab, he developed and patented scores of electric devices based on his superior capabilities of high-potential, high-frequency currents: Tesla coil, radio, high-frequency lighting, x-rays, and most importantly germane to our topic – electrotherapeutic devices.