http://www.tfcbooks.com
http://www.tfcbooks.com/mall/more/381tele.htm
Tesla was the inspiration for what started out as
"mad scientist invents killer ray gun" stories, and has since
morphed into a more familiar sci-fi concept, the "phaser".
He also did some interesting stuff with low-frequency
radiation and electrical power production. When Tesla was
just a kid, his brother drowned in an accident. He blamed (tortured) himself,
for years afterward. His curse, and indirectly, the blessing
that drove him to greatness...
Oops, gotta go. Kelly Rowland (Destiny's Child) is on Jay Leno...
By the way, I gotta ask, what is a "phsstpok"? The sound a balky steam engine makes?
I've known about Tesla since I was a kid. My dad had told me, not about Tesla but about his own ideas as a kid about transmitting power over the air (never pursued, just something that fascinated him). When I stumbled across Tesla and his work in Colorado I became fascinated, both with the verifiable reality and the fringe stories that probably can never be proved. Lots of people still remember the myths and fantastic tales that inspired the "evil scientist" cliche, probably because that is what Edison's friends in the media played up to spin Tesla as a kook. I've tried to concentrate on the things that he really did produce and demonstrate. When I ask people about the patent on radio or inventing radio controlled torpedos they never associate those things with Tesla or come close to the real dates that he did them.
My favorite is laying out the question about Edison and Tesla competing to see whose electric system, AC or DC, would win out to electrify the country (I leave out Westinghouse most of the time, until I tell them who really won). Most everyone assume that Edison won, which to them means he invented AC. This is particularly true of older New Yorkers because of the old Edison Electric Company that served the NYC area.
Do you know the story of Sam Clemens discovering the laxative effects of high frequency electricity?
forgot to mention, this is a character from a Larry Niven story, Protector. It's part of his Known Space books, which includes probably his best known book Ringworld.
I've always pronounced the name as "fist-pok." I think Niven actually uses the "balky steam engine" analogy in his description. Horribly dated science in the science fiction of this story (one of his few forays into biology and evolution) but a fun read, particularly as part of the entire Known Space "universe."