Historians of the future may well characterise the 20th century as 'the century of electricity & electronics'. But Edison's D.C. generators could not in themselves, have achieved the spectacular progress that has been made. All over the world we depend totally on a system of transmitting mains electricity over long distances which was originally created by an amazing inventor whose scientific discoveries changed, and are still changing, the whole world. His name was scarcely known to the general public, especially in Europe, where he was born. Who was this unknown pioneer? Some people reckon that it was this astonishing visionary who invented wireless, remote control, robotics and a form of X-ray photography using high frequency radio waves. A patent which he took out in the U.S.A. in 1890 ultimately led to the design of the humble ignition coil which energises billions and billions of spark plugs in all the motor cars of the world. His American patents fill a book two inches thick. His name was Nicola Tesla (1856-1943). Nicola Tesla was born in a small village in Croatia which at that time formed part of the great Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today it is a northern province of Yugoslavia, a state created after the 1914-1918 war. Tesla studied at the Graz Technical University and later in Budapest. Early in his studies he had the idea that a way had to be found to run electric motors directly from A.C. generators. His professor in Graz had assured him categorically that this was not possible. But young Tesla was not convinced. When he went to Budapest he got a job in the Central Telegraph Office, and one evening in 1882, as he was sitting on a bench in the City Park he had an inspiration which ultimately led to the solution of the problem. Tesla remembered a poem by the German poet Goethe about the sun which supports life on the earth and when the day is over moves on to give life to the other side of the globe. He picked up a twig and began to scratch a drawing on the soil in front of him. He drew four coils arranged symmetrically round the circumference of a circle. In the centre he drew a rotor or armature. As each coil in turn was energised it attracted the rotor towards it and the rotary motion was established. When he constructed the first practical models he used eight, sixteen and even more coils. The simple drawing on the ground led to the design of the first induction motor driven directly by A.C.electricity.