Free Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla by Marc Seifer

particular, had been subject to this type of problem. 19 Since “all our plants are differently constructed,” 20 it would take well-trained and creative engineers to run things smoothly. Batchelor demonstrated confidence in Tesla’s abilities by sending him to Strasbourg; however, he seems not to have mentioned Tesla in his correspondence with Edison. In any event, Tesla’s account of the situation in Strasbourg corroborates Batchelor’s: “The wiring was defective and on the occasion of the opening ceremonies a large part of a wall was blown out thru [sic] a short-circuit right in the presence of old Emperor William I. The German Government refused to take the plant and the French Company was facing a serious loss. On account of my knowledge of the German language and past experience, I was entrusted with the difficult task of straightening out matters.” 21
    Having anticipated a long stay in the region, Tesla had brought with him from Paris materials for his first AC motor. As soon as he was able, Tesla constructed the motor in secret in a closet “in a mechanical shop opposite the railroad station”; 22 however, summer would arrive before this first machine was in operation. Anthony Szigeti, his assistant, forged an iron disk, which Tesla “mounted on a needle,” having surrounded it, in part, with a coil. 23 “Finally,” Tesla wrote, “[I] had the satisfaction of seeing rotation effected by alternating currents of different phase, and without sliding contacts or commutator, as I had conceived a year before. It was an exquisite pleasure, but not to compare with the delirium of joy following the first revelation.” 24
    Tesla presented his new creation to his friend, Mr. Bauzin, the mayor of the town, who tried his best to interest wealthy investors; “but to my mortification…[there was] no response.” Upon his return to Paris, he sought promised compensation for achieving a difficult success in Strasbourg. Approaching his employers, “after several days of…circulus vicious, it dawned on me that my reward was a castle in Spain…Mr. Batchelor [pressed] me to go to America with a view of redesigning the Edison machines; I determined to try my fortunes in the land of Golden Promise.” 25
    John O’Neill, Tesla’s first major biographer, has suggested that Batchelor wrote a note of introduction to Edison which read, “I know two great men and you are one of them; the other is this young man.” 26 Evidence for the veracity of this oft-repeated tale is lacking. Batchelor, for instance, had been back in America for at least three months prior to Tesla’s arrival; 27 thus, he would not have had to write a letter. Furthermore, there is evidence that Edison had already met Tesla in Paris during a littleknown sojourn he took to look over his European operations at that time. 28 O’Neill also refers to Batchelor incorrectly as Edison’s “former assistant” 29 when Batchelor was probably Edison’s closest lifelong colleague. Edisondoes, however, substantiate that “Tesla worked for me in New York. He was brought over from Paris by Batchelor, my assistant,” 30 but there is no reference to Batchelor’s appreciation of Tesla’s genius. On October 28, 1883, fully a year after Tesla began working for Edison Continental, while he was stationed in Strasbourg, Batchelor singled out “the names of…two [or three] I can mention as capable as far as their work shows: Mr. Stout—an inspector; Mr. Vissiere—my assistant; Mr. Geoffrey—whose plants are always spoken well of…There are others capable, but I think these are the best.” 31 Certainly, had Tesla impressed Batchelor as O’Neill contends, he should have been listed in this letter or in numerous other letters to Edison that I have reviewed.
    Before Tesla left for America, he spent time with a scientist who was studying microscopic organisms found in common drinking water. Combined with the scare he had with his bout with cholera a few years earlier,