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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Where does Nikola Tesla spend time feeding pigeons?
2. Who tries to learn the secret of animosity between Nikola Tesla and professor Pupin?
3. Who writes letters to Nikola Tesla from around the country, trying to encourage him about better health?
4. In what year does the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Marconi Company patents for the invention of radio?
5. In what year is Yugoslavia formed?
Short Essay Questions
1. In Chapter 26, "Corks on Water," explain why J.P. Morgan will not invest in proposals Nikola Tesla makes after the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
2. What mistake does Nikola make when proposing his process for degassifying copper to the American Smelting and Refining Company?
3. What role does the National Research Council have in preventing Nikola from getting his ideas listened to?
4. As described in Chapter 28, "Death and Transfiguration," why is Nikola Tesla caught in the middle of politics with regard to the role of Yugoslavia in World War II?
5. In Chapter 17, "The Great Radio Controversy," what court rules that Nikola Tesla is the inventor of radio, rather than William Marconi?
6. What closure does Nikola get as he learns about medical uses for his oscillator inventions?
7. Why is Nikola Tesla constantly passed over for fame and fortune for his inventions, especially radio?
8. What does the fact that Nikola Tesla tries to send a letter to the long-dead Mark Twain signal about his impending death?
9. In Chapter 24, "Transitions," why does Nikola Tesla bemoan the "problem" of women in an interview in the Detroit Free Press?
10. Why does Nikola try not to attend the Edison Medal ceremony to receive his award?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
It seems that Nikola Tesla's decision not to enter into a marriage was part of a deliberate effort to maintain the focus on his career. Yet other successful "money men" and inventors of the times had wives and children. With your knowledge of Nikola, and given the times in which he lived, explain whether you think he would have been able to envision and create the devices and ideas that he did had he been married. Select one or two married "money men" described in the book, and discuss why they were able to be successful. Are the type of women they selected for mates similar to the type of women with whom Nikola affiliated as friends?
Essay Topic 2
At dinner in the Palm Room of the Waldorf Astoria, Nikola Tesla requires eighteen napkins, polishes the crystal and silver setting, has his meal served by the maitre d'hotel, calculates the cubic contents of his meal, and then departs precisely at 10:00 p.m., all while the other diners maintain their distance and pretend not to stare at him.
Part 1) Discuss how Nikola's compulsive behaviors and expectations affect his ability to produce and bring to closure his experiments, his success over the years raising funds, and his social life.
Part 2) Which of these compulsive behaviors might have helped him, and which would hinder him?
Part 3) If Nikola were alive today, do you think he would he be more likely to better manage some of his compulsions? Why or why not?
Essay Topic 3
Both Nikola Tesla and Robert Golka carry out their work as "loners", not affiliating with other companies or research colleagues. What challenges do they share because of this way to work? Why do they both eschew control from an outside organization? Was it possible to be successful in the research world without these connections in the times in which Nikola lived? How about today?
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This section contains 978 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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