Editing Nikola Tesla (section)

==Early years{{anchor|Parents}}==<!-- [[Milutin Tesla]] and [[Đuka Mandić]] redirect here -->
[[File:Nikola Tesla Memorial Center.JPG|thumb|left|Tesla's rebuilt birth house (parish hall) and the church where his father served in [[Smiljan, Croatia]]. The site was made into [[Nikola Tesla Memorial Center|a museum to honor him]].<ref name="tsbirthplace">{{cite web |title=Pictures of Tesla's home in Smiljan, Croatia and his father's church after rebuilding. |url=http://www.teslasociety.com/birthplace.htm |access-date=22 May 2013 |publisher=Tesla Memorial Society of NY |archive-date=2 June 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030602202049/http://www.teslasociety.com/birthplace.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

Nikola Tesla was born into an ethnic [[Serbs|Serb]] family in the village of [[Smiljan, Croatia|Smiljan]], within the [[Military Frontier]], in the [[Austrian Empire]] (present-day [[Croatia]]), on 10 July 1856.{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=143}}{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|pp=9, 12}} His father, Milutin Tesla (1819–1879),{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=14}} was a priest of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]].{{sfn|Dommermuth-Costa|1994|p=12|loc="Milutin, Nikola's father, was a well-educated priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church."}}{{sfn|Cheney|2011|p=25|loc="The tiny house in which he was born stood next to the Serbian Orthodox Church presided over by his father, the Reverend Milutin Tesla, who sometimes wrote articles under the nom-de-plume 'Man of Justice{{'-}}"}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=14|loc="Following a reprimand at school for not keeping his brass buttons polished, he quit and instead chose to become a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church"}}{{sfn|Burgan|2009|p=17|loc="Nikola's father, Milutin was a Serbian Orthodox priest and had been sent to Smiljan by his church."}} His father's brother Josif was a lecturer at a military academy who wrote several textbooks on mathematics.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|page=14}}

Tesla's mother, Georgina "Đuka" Mandić (1822–1892), whose father was also an Eastern Orthodox priest,{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=10}} had a talent for making home craft tools and mechanical appliances and the ability to memorize [[Serbian epic poetry|Serbian epic poems]]. Đuka had never received a formal education. Tesla credited his [[eidetic memory]] and creative abilities to his mother's genetics and influence.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|pp=25-26}}{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=7}}

Tesla was the fourth of five children. He had three sisters, Milka, Angelina, and Marica, and an older brother named Dane, who was killed in a horse-riding accident when Tesla was aged six or seven.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=21}} In 1861, Tesla attended primary school in Smiljan where he studied German, arithmetic, and religion. In 1862, the Tesla family moved to the nearby town of [[Gospić]], where Tesla's father worked as parish priest. Nikola completed primary school, followed by middle school. In 1870, Tesla moved to [[Karlovac]]{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=13}} to attend high school at the [[Gymnasium Karlovac|Higher Real Gymnasium]] where the classes were held in German, as it was usual throughout schools within the Austro-Hungarian Military Frontier.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tesla|first1=Nikola|last2=Marinčić|first2=Aleksandar|title=From Colorado Springs to Long Island: research notes |date=2008|publisher=Nikola Tesla Museum|location=Belgrade|isbn=978-86-81243-44-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Budiansky |first1=Stephen |title=Journey to the edge of reason : the life of Kurt Gödel |date=2021 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-324-00545-2 |edition=First |quote=In the natural sciences, Austria produced a remarkable number of talented theorists and experimentalists. The electrical genius Nikola Tesla, from Croatia, studied in Karlovac at one of the rigorous German-language high schools, the Gymnasiums, established throughout the Austrian Empire.}}</ref> Later in his patent applications, before he obtained American citizenship, Tesla would identify himself as "of Smiljan, [[Lika]], border country of [[Austria-Hungary]]".{{sfn|Wohinz|2019|pp=14–15}}

[[File:Milutin Tesla.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Tesla's father, Milutin, was an [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] priest in the village of Smiljan.|left]]

Tesla later wrote that he became interested in demonstrations of electricity by his physics professor.{{efn|Tesla does not mention which professor this was by name, but some sources conclude this was [[Martin Sekulić]].{{sfn|Seifer|1998|loc=CHILDHOOD 1856-74}}{{sfn|Petešić|1976|pp=29–30}}}} Tesla noted that these demonstrations of this "mysterious phenomena" made him want "to know more of this wonderful force".{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=32}} Tesla was able to perform [[integral|integral calculus]] in his head, which prompted his teachers to believe that he was cheating.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tesla Life and Legacy&nbsp;– Tesla's Early Years|url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_early.html|publisher=PBS|access-date=8 July 2012|archive-date=20 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720022706/http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_early.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He finished a four-year term in three years, graduating in 1873.{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=33}}

After graduating Tesla returned to Smiljan but soon contracted [[cholera]], was bedridden for nine months and was near death multiple times. In a moment of despair, Tesla's father (who had originally wanted him to enter the priesthood),<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Glenn|editor-first=Jim|title=The complete patents of Nikola Tesla|year=1994|publisher=Barnes & Noble Books|location=New York|isbn=1-56619-266-8|url=https://archive.org/details/completepatentso00tesl}}</ref> promised to send him to the best engineering school if he recovered from the illness.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=29}} Tesla later said that he had read [[Mark Twain]]'s earlier works while recovering from his illness.<ref name="tesla1">{{cite book|last1=Tesla|first1=Nikola|title=My inventions: the autobiography of Nikola Tesla|date=2011 | orig-date = 1919 edition reprint | publisher=Martino Fine Books|location=Eastford|isbn=978-1-61427-084-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Juliana |last=Adelman |title=The electricity between Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-electricity-between-mark-twain-and-nikola-tesla-1.2522523 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=11 February 2016}}</ref>

The next year Tesla evaded [[conscription]] into the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] in Smiljan{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=14}} by running away southeast of Lika to [[Tomingaj]], near [[Gračac]]. There he explored the mountains wearing hunter's garb. Tesla said that this contact with nature made him stronger, both physically and mentally. He enrolled at the [[Imperial-Royal Technical College in Graz]] in 1875 on a Military Frontier scholarship. Tesla passed nine exams (nearly twice as many as required{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=39}}) and received a letter of commendation from the dean of the technical faculty to his father, which stated, "Your son is a star of first rank."{{sfn|O'Neill|1944|p=39}} At Graz, Tesla noted his fascination with the detailed lectures on electricity presented by Professor [[Jakob Pöschl]] and described how he made suggestions on improving the design of an electric motor the professor was demonstrating.<ref name="tesla1" />{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=35}} But by his third year he was failing in school and never graduated, leaving [[Graz]] in December 1878. One biographer suggests Tesla was not studying and may have been expelled for gambling and womanizing.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=17}}

[[File:Tesla 1879 teslauniverse.jpg|thumb|right|Tesla aged 23, {{circa|1879}}|upright=.75]]

Tesla's family did not hear from him after he left school.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|pp=17–18}} There was a rumor among his classmates that he had drowned in the nearby river [[Mur (river)|Mur]] but in January one of them ran into Tesla in the town of [[Maribor]] and reported that encounter to Tesla's family.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} It turned out Tesla had been working there as a draftsman for 60 florins per month.{{sfn|Seifer|2001|p=17}} In March 1879, Milutin finally located his son and tried to convince him to return home and take up his education in Prague.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} Tesla returned to Gospić later that month when he was deported for not having a residence permit.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} Tesla's father died the next month, on 17 April 1879, at the age of 60 after an unspecified illness.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=47}} During the rest of the year Tesla taught a large class of students in his old school in Gospić.

In January 1880, two of Tesla's uncles put together enough money to help him leave Gospić for [[Prague]], where he was to study. He arrived too late to enroll at [[Charles University|Charles-Ferdinand University]]; he had never studied [[Greek language|Greek]], a required subject; and he was illiterate in [[Czech (language)|Czech]], another required subject. Tesla did, however, attend lectures in philosophy at the university as an auditor but he did not receive grades for the courses.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mrkich|first=D.|title=Nikola Tesla: The European Years|year=2003|publisher=Commoner's Publishing|location=Ottawa|isbn=0-88970-113-X|edition=1st}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=NYHOTEL|url=http://www.teslasociety.com/nyhotel.htm|publisher=Tesla Society of NY|access-date=17 August 2012|archive-date=31 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231231421/http://www.teslasociety.com/nyhotel.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Working at Budapest Telephone Exchange ===

Tesla moved to [[Budapest]], [[Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen|Hungary]], in 1881 to work under [[Tivadar Puskás]] at a [[Telegraphy|telegraph]] company, the Budapest Telephone Exchange. Upon arrival, Tesla realized that the company, then under construction, was not functional, so he worked as a draftsman in the Central Telegraph Office instead. Within a few months, the Budapest Telephone Exchange became functional, and Tesla was allocated the chief electrician position. During his employment, Tesla made many improvements to the Central Station equipment and claimed to have perfected a telephone [[repeater]] or [[amplifier]], which was never patented nor publicly described.<ref name="tesla1" />{{better source needed|date=January 2022}}