16. Nikola Tesla was a trailblazing inventor who battled with mental illness
We have a lot to thank Nikola Tesla (1846-1953) for. Born in modern day Croatia, Tesla added practical experience at the Edison Machine Works to his years of dedicated academic study. After striking out on his own in his adopted country of the United States, Tesla’s chief innovation was the rotating magnetic field, fundamental to most alternating current (AC) machinery. AC is widely used in telecommunications, making this pioneering futurist’s contribution to modern life immeasurable. As long ago as 1893 he discussed the possibility of wireless communication between devices, and only a shortage of funding thwarted him from developing the technology.
In his day, Tesla was seen as the archetypal eccentric genius, but behind his unusual habits lay significant mental health issues, which may have been hereditary. Most notably, Tesla had Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Although often used as a cheerful adjective these days, OCD is a serious condition, and Tesla used 18 napkins at each meal, walked three times around a building before entering it, and only occupied hotel rooms with numbers divisible by three. He also suffered from hallucinations after witnessing his brother trampled to death by a horse, to which he credited many of his inventions.
