Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and
futurist. He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern
alternating-current electricity supply system. This photograph, taken in Tesla's laboratory in
Colorado Springs in December 1899, supposedly shows him reading in a chair next to his giant "
magnifying transmitter" high-voltage generator while the machine produces huge bolts of electricity. The image was created through a
double exposure as part of a promotional stunt by the photographer Dickenson V. Alley. The machine's huge sparks were first photographed in the darkened room, then the photographic plate was exposed again with the machine off and Tesla sitting in the chair. Tesla admitted that the photograph was false in his book
Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900.
Photograph credit: Dickenson V. Alley; restored by Bammesk
