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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. Who writes letters to Nikola Tesla from around the country, trying to encourage him about better health?

2. In what year does the Luftwaffe bomb Belgrade?

3. What does Nikola Tesla's 81st birthday bring him?

4. In 1927, who tries to help Nikola Tesla with the promotion of a scientific concept?

5. At how many revolutions per minute does the Tesla turbine run?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. 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.

5. What mistake does Nikola make when proposing his process for degassifying copper to the American Smelting and Refining Company?

6. 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?

7. What role does the National Research Council have in preventing Nikola from getting his ideas listened to?

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 16,"Ridiculed, Condemned, Combated," what project is responsible for Nikola Tesla getting little sleep?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Nikola Tesla's cool fireball and one thousand volt electrocution demonstrations fascinates Mark Twain, Joseph Jefferson, and Chauncey McGovern. At the end of the demonstrations, Nikola Tesla explains why he can stand briefly on the platform with high voltage yet not get electrocuted. Choose one of the following options to write about.

1) Describe the professions of Nikola Tesla's three guests and why you think Nikola Tesla gives these particular demonstrations.

2) Why does Nikola Tesla explain the rationale for the high voltage platform demonstration?

3) What impression does Nikola Tesla leave with his guests when he does not make a distinction between a human and animal reaction?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison are two men with a shared interest in science, yet cannot be more different in their outlook on life and approaches to their work.

Part 1) How does Nikola Tesla's and Thomas Edison's first meeting in 1884 set the stage for the personality conflicts that follow?

Part 2) Why does Thomas Edison proceed to put Nikola Tesla to work despite his disdain for alternating current?

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This section contains 962 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample