Long before there was Elon Musk’s Tesla, there was Nikola Tesla and 10th July (1856) marks his birthday.

Nikola’s gift was the ability to see beyond the status quo, to imagine what might be, to land hands on tools, to overcome setbacks and to continue on to create a physical reality.

His curse was his inability to profitably commercialise his inventions and despite great partnerships, joint ventures and funding, he was left second best at every turn, having his patents, inventions and innovations brought to profitable reality by Thomas Edison, Westinghouse and many others.

His incredible inventions included AC current (electricity), the radio, fluorescent lights, hydro-electric plants and my personal favourite the remote control (long before TV’s existed).

In celebration of this great inventor’s birthday, Hong Kong 3’s, Phil Whelan and I chatted this week about all things Tesla and what his true legacy is. We also posed the question “If Tesla was alive today what future energy source might he be experimenting with?”

Would it be space based solar power, or kinetic / human power, or tidal power, or hydrogen power,  or magma power, or nuclear waste power, or embedded solar power, perhaps algae power, or even drone windmills or fusion.

As always a great chat, so take a listen now (16 mins 34 secs)