Nikola Tesla is the true unsung prophet of the electric age, without whom our radio, auto ignition, telephone, television, and alternating current power generation and transmission would all have been impossible. Yet his life and times have vanished largely from public access. This autobiography is released to remedy this situation, and to understand the life and the mind of Nikola Tesla. CONTENTS Chapter 1: My Early Life -The progressive development of man is vitally dependent on invention. It is the most important product of his creative brain. Its ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of the forces of nature to human needs. Chapter 2: -I shall dwell briefly on these extraordinary experiences, on account of their possible interest to students of psychology and physiology and also because this period of agony was of the greatest consequence on my mental development and subsequent labors. Chapter 3: How Tesla Conceived The Rotary Magnetic Field -At the age of ten I entered the Real Gymnasium which was a new and fairly well equipped institution. In the department of physics were various models of classical scientific apparatus, electrical and mechanical. The demonstrations and experiments performed from time to time by the instructors fascinated me and were undoubtedly a powerful incentive to invention. Chapter 4: The Discovery of the Tesla Coil and Transformer -For a while I gave myself up entirely to the intense enjoyment of picturing machines and devising new forms. It was a mental state of happiness about as complete as I have ever known in life. Ideas came in an uninterrupted stream and the only difficulty I had was to hold them fast. Chapter 5: -As I review the events of my past life I realize how subtle are the influences that shape our destinies. An incident of my youth may serve to illustrate. Chapter 6: -No subject to which I have ever devoted myself has called for such concentration of mind, and strained to so dangerous a degree the finest fibers of my brain, as the systems of which the magnifying transmitter is the foundation.