The Discoverer (Revised Version)

The Discoverer

Smiljan, Croatia, his birthplace is the word
Eighteen fifty-six in the year of our Lord
The bladeless turbine he somehow contrived
At the unheralded age of a very young five

During the Panic of Eighteen eighty-four
He first came to the American shore
The “Fire of the Gods” was to be his passion
Electrically he was the master of fashion

Discovered alternating current most astutely
Anything electric he could do absolutely
He fought with Tom, thank goodness for us
After he won, Edison continued to fuss

He built the first rotary engine before
Wankel was born, if you know the score
He built a strangely different boat
With a little black box called a remote

In eighteen ninety-seven, something to know
He beat Marconi to the first radio
He invented the transistor in nineteen oh three
Long before we developed the technology

The “AND” Gate is another of his great hits
Crucial to the computers where we now sit
He was an inventor with an impressive score
He was a discoverer and so very much more

He figured a way to make a battery
Out of the very earth amazingly
Asked for money J.P. Morgan said testily
“We can’t charge for the power and that’s idiocy”

Nikola was brilliant with the worst of luck
Several times rich then poor as a duck
Of phobias the man had his full share
For he couldn’t stand to touch human hair

Spherical objects gave him great fear
But he loved pigeons that much is clear
Eighteen Napkins he used with each meal
Polished his plates and silver with zeal

He never ate from the restaurant menu
The cubic volume of the food was his venue
Always ate alone so no interruptions
To avoid his calculation disruptions

He preferred his numbers divisible by three
Nikola, the past master of electricity
Died in the Hotel New Yorker there in Manhattan
At age eighty-six alone with no money in hand

Tesla died a virgin it’s believed by so many
Because of his aversion to hair he never got any
His discoveries are still bearing fruit to this day
Another use for his inventions may be headed our way


(for more info on the man, visit) http://www.teslascience.org/pages/tesla.htm#warden      or  
http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/