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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. What type of weapon does Nikola envision in his conversations with Viereck?

2. For what publication does Nikola Tesla write about women's superiority?

3. In what year do Nikola Tesla's friends Hobson and Johnson die?

4. After J. Pierpont Morgan dies in 1913, from whom does Nikola Tesla try to get investment funding?

5. For what is Nikola Tesla singled out due to the role of Yugoslavia in the upcoming war?

Short Essay Questions

1. What influence does Nikola have on some Canadians with respect to wireless electric power generation?

2. In Chapter 19, "The Nobel Affair," for what two inventions does Nikola Tesla think he can collaborate with John Hays Hammond, Jr., and why?

3. In Chapter 22, "The Guest of Honor," what are B.A. Behrend's motives in persuading the AIEE to award the Edison Medal to Nikola Tesla?

4. What use does Nikola describe for radar in Chapter 21, "Radar"?

5. Describe why Nikola, now in his fifties, aggrandizes his theories and projects to others.

6. 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?

7. What is different about Nikola's flivver airplane, or flying stove, and other existing aircraft?

8. Why does Nikola try not to attend the Edison Medal ceremony to receive his award?

9. In Chapter 24, "Transitions," why does Nikola Tesla bemoan the "problem" of women in an interview in the Detroit Free Press?

10. In the face of what is termed the 1903 "Rich Man's Panic," how does Scherff advise Nikola Tesla to leverage one of his inventions to raise funds?

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

In Chapter 7, "Radio," Nikola Tesla encounters many obstacles that prevent him from focusing on his research with radio.

Part 1) Briefly describe his main distractions and identify which distractions present the greatest obstacles to his success.

Part 2) Why does the author state that it is impossible for Nikola to accept Sir William Crook's advice to focus on one single area of research?

(see the answer keys)

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