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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. With what bird is Nikola Tesla enamored?

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

3. With whom does the New York Times suggest that Nikola Tesla will share the 1915 Nobel Prize in physics?

4. Who arrives in America from Europe and becomes a minister of the new Tito government?

5. To where does Nikola Tesla begin to write letters at age fifty?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 27, "Cosmic Communion," for what purpose does Nikola Tesla use his birthday parties during his eightieth decade?

2. 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?

3. What closure does Nikola get as he learns about medical uses for his oscillator inventions?

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

5. Whom does Nikola approach for funding for his system to broadcast all wavelength channels from a single station, and why is this person his choice?

6. Why does Nikola care for pigeons in Chapter 23, "Pigeons"?

7. After 1915, why does Nikola work for two companies as described in Chapter 20, "Flying Stove"?

8. In Chapter 15, "Magnificent and Doomed," what trickery does Nikola Tesla use in pictures in a published article to give the impression that he is impervious to the lighting generated at his Colorado Springs laboratory?

9. In Chapter 17, "The Great Radio Controversy," what court rules that Nikola Tesla is the inventor of radio, rather than William Marconi?

10. Why is Nikola Tesla constantly passed over for fame and fortune for his inventions, especially radio?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

For a period in Nikola Tesla's life, he becomes quite secretive about more than surface details of his inventions. In his seventies, he announces earth-shattering inventions and makes numerous prophecies. To what do you attribute these changes? Why is Nikola suddenly willing to take risks again after so many years? How much of this change can be attributed to the interest shown to him by Kenneth Swezey?

Essay Topic 2

After the fire in Nikola's laboratory, he is almost financially destitute. Nonetheless, he makes several judgment errors. List at least five errors and select the two that most inhibit Nikola's work during that time period. Describe your reasons for your selections.

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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