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Electrical engineer and genius, Nikola Tesla was born in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (now Croatia) on July 9th or 10th, 1856, making this weekend his 166th birthday! He showed an interest in engineering from a very young age. Some inspiration probably came from his mother Duka, who was known for fashioning her own tools for use around the house. His father Milutin was a priest of the Eastern Orthodox Church and had a talent for memorizing Serbian epic poetry. Nikola was a very bright child with an eidetic memory, he could also speak eight languages (Serbo-Croatian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin).  

Tesla attended the Imperial-Royal Technical College at Graz (Now Graz University of Technology) where he became obsessed with proving alternate currents merits. He was so preoccupied with these thoughts that he was unable to concentrate on his schoolwork. He dropped out due to failing grades and lost his tuition money to gambling. His father eventually found him, brought him home, and helped him prepare to continue his education at the University of Prague. Milutin unexpectedly died in April of 1879 before he could arrange everything. For the rest of that year Tesla spent his time teaching at the local school. The next year Tesla’s uncles gathered enough money for him to attend school in Prague. However, he arrived too late in the year to enroll. In addition, he did not have the prerequisite levels of Greek and Czech to be accepted. While he attended lectures at Charles-Ferdinand University, he never received grades.   

In 1981 he moved to Budapest where he worked at the Budapest Telephone Exchange. After making several improvements there, he was recommended the next year for a job at the Continental Edison Company in Paris. In 1883 Tesla built his first induction motor.  

Tesla was recommended again for a job, this time with Thomas Edison’s lab. He arrived in America in 1884 to begin this job. Tesla and Edison’s relationship quickly fell apart because of creative differences. Tesla took a job digging ditches in order to support himself before he found investors in his work.  

Inventors quickly found Tesla, interested in his induction motor and use of alternating current. A deal was brokered and he licensed his invention for a polyphase system of alternating current dynamos, transformers, and motors to be sold to George Westinghouse. This sale included a year of work for Tesla at Westinghouse’s lab in Pittsburgh. In 1891 Westinghouse was facing financial difficulties, and Tesla agreed to release the company from paying him according to their agreement, believing that a major company promoting the wonders of alternating current would further the cause.  

Over the next several years, Tesla continued to be a pioneer in widespread use of electricity. In order to assuage fears of electricity, he invited the public to his lab to see demonstrations where he let electric currents run through his body to show how safe the technology was. He moved to Colorado Springs where he established a lab and discovered terrestrial stationary waves, proving that the earth can resonate at certain electrical frequencies. Eventually he moved back East where he set up a laboratory at Wardenclyffe in New York. Here he experimented with radio waves, but eventually lost the lab due to financial difficulties. The lab at Wardenclyffe would be his last large-scale laboratory. He would spend the rest of his life working on several projects, but never again would he find widespread success.  

Tesla died on January 7th, 1943, at the age of 86. He was found in his room at the Hotel New Yorker where he had lived for several years (his rent was covered by Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company). Many conspiracy theories have claimed that Tesla had developed a working death ray or that his papers held proof of aliens. An investigation by the FBI found no proof, and that his papers were mostly theoretical in nature. The “working death ray” was found to be a multidecade resistance box. Tesla’s remains were cremated and can be found at the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. 

Biography. (2022, January 7). Nikola Tesla. https://www.biography.com/inventor/nikola-tesla 

King, G. (2013, February 4). The Rise and Fall of Nikola Tesla and His Tower. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-rise-and-fall-of-nikola-tesla-and-his-tower-11074324/ 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (n.d.). Nikola Tesla | Lemelson. Lemelson-MIT. https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/nikola-tesla 

Newhall, M. (2013, November 18). Top 11 Things You Didn’t Know About Nikola Tesla. Energy.gov. https://www.energy.gov/articles/top-11-things-you-didnt-know-about-nikola-tesla 

Whitaker Hunt, I. (n.d.). Nikola Tesla | Biography, Facts, & Inventions. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikola-Tesla 

Let’s celebrate International Women in Engineering Day!

47% of the American workforce is made up of women, but only 14% of engineers and only 20% off engineering students are women. In fact, while the number of female engineering students has increased, 40% of female graduates leave or never find a job in the field. According to one Harvard Business Review article, women who choose a career in engineering express a desire to be work in socially conscious areas, such as environmental or biomedical engineering. When exposed to real-world engineering in their first jobs or internships, these hopeful engineers learn that “the engineering profession is not as open to being socially responsible or as dedicated to tackling pressing national and global problems as they had hoped.” The twin disappointments of opportunities to make a positive impact paired with sexism encountered in the classroom or workplace alienate these young and hopeful engineers who look for opportunities elsewhere. 

Well that was disheartening. What can we do?

In the 1980’s only 5.8% of engineers were women, illustrating that we have made great strides in closing the engineering gender gap. Here at the University of Iowa, 27.8% of engineering students (undergraduate and graduate together) are women. 

Educate Yourself

This is something everyone can do! Read articles and books, listen to podcasts, or find other resources to learn about the history of women in engineering and the current issues they are facing. We can get you started! If you are interested in the story of how women blazed their own way into engineering schools, try Girls Coming to Tech! by Amy Sue Bix. If you want to blaze your own way in the engineering world, check out Becoming Leaders: a practical handbook for women in engineering, science, and technology by F. Mary Williams and Carolyn J. Emerson. 

Join a Student Organization focused on Women in Engineering

The College of Engineering has over 30 student groups, several of which are centered around women in engineering. Many professional engineering organizations including ASME and IEEE have their own special sections for women in the field to build relationships.

Find or Become a Mentor

Building one on one relationships is another way to build community. You can create your own mentorships, or find them through groups like the Society of Women Engineers, who have a members only mentor network. A mentor can help you to evaluate your goals, navigate difficult decisions, or find your next career move. 

Find a Role Model

Many people find it beneficial to have role models to aspire to. These can be other female engineers from history whose work you want to build on, or even a celebrity whose vibe you like (no one says you can’t aspire to be the Beyonce of your lab). We even have some great female role models here at the College of Engineering! Our own Dean Harriet Nembhard is an extremely accomplished Industrial Engineer. 

We’ve had a very hot week, so it’s fitting that it is National Flip Flop Day! Celebrated the third Friday in June, National Flip Flop Day was created by the restaurant Tropical Smoothie Cafe as a fundraiser for Camp Sunshine, a summer camp for children with life-threatening illnesses. 

Flip flops became popular in America after World War II when American soldiers brought Japanese zori back from their deployments. Zori can be traced back to the Heian Period (794-1192 CE) and are often paired with tabi socks, which allow the wearer to don both socks and sandals at the same time. Today Americans often wear their flip flops during summer activities like going to the beach, so we forego the socks. 

Flip flops are not patented, but improvements to them can be patented! How would you improve your flip flops?

Many patents are for decorative elements and the ways in which they are attached to the shoe, like this daisy or this fun fringe

Some people seek to improve the functionality of flip flops, like adding straps or creating a convertible flipflop/slipper.

If you want a more scientific approach to flip flops and shoes in general, come check out The Science of Footwear edited by Ravindra S. Goonetilleke to learn more about everything in the process of designing, manufacturing, and marketing footwear.

Stay cool and wear your flip flops to the beach this weekend!