Nikola Tesla

尼古拉·特斯拉

Nikola Tesla, who was a trained electrical and mechanical（机电） engineer, was one of the weighty inventors of the 20th century.

尼古拉·特斯拉是一位训练有素的机电工程师，也是20世纪最重要的发明家之一。

Eventually holding over 700 patents, Tesla worked in a number of fields, including electricity, robotics, radar, and wireless transmission of energy.

特斯拉最终拥有超过700项专利，其工作涉及多个领域，包括电力、机器人、雷达和无线能量传输。

Tesla's discoveries laid the groundwork（基础） for many of the technological advances of the 20th century.

特斯拉的发现为20世纪的许多技术发展奠定了基础。

Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia. He owed his strong desire for invention to his mother, an inventive homemaker who created appliances（电器） such as a mechanical eggbeater to help with the home and farm.

特斯拉出生在克罗地亚的史密里安。他对发明的强烈渴望归功于他的母亲。他的母亲是一位富有创造力的家庭主妇，她发明了很多家用电器来帮助打理家务和农场，比如打蛋器。

Tesla studied at the University of Prague, where he studied mechanical and electrical engineering.

特斯拉在布拉格大学读书，学习机械和电气工程。

In 1882, 24-year-old Tesla was working for the Central Telephone Exchange in Budapest when the idea for a rotating（旋转） magnetic field flashed through his mind.

1882年，24岁的特斯拉在布达佩斯中央电话局工作时，当时他脑子里突然闪过一个关于旋转磁场的想法。

Tesla was determined to turn his idea into reality but he was unable to find support for it in Budapest; thus, Tesla moved to New York in 1884 and introduced himself to Thomas Edison through a letter of recommendation.

特斯拉决心把他的想法变成现实，但他在布达佩斯找不到支持他做这件事的人；因此，特斯拉于1884年搬到了纽约，通过一封推荐信向托马斯·爱迪生介绍了自己。

Edison hired Tesla at fourteen dollars per week plus a $50,000 bonus if Tesla could improve Edison's electric lighting system.

爱迪生以每周14美元的工资雇用了特斯拉，如果特斯拉能改进爱迪生的电力照明系统的话，他还可以得到5万美元的奖金。

Although Tesla and Edison respected one another, Tesla challenged Edison's claim that current could only flow in one direction. Tesla claimed that energy could change direction.

尽管特斯拉和爱迪生彼此尊重，但特斯拉对爱迪生关于电流只能单向流动的观点提出了质疑。特斯拉声称，能量可以改变电流流动方向。

Since Edison didn't like Tesla's idea of alternating current（交流电）, he refused to award Tesla the bonus, saying the offer of a bonus had been a joke and that Tesla didn't understand American humor.

由于爱迪生不喜欢特斯拉的交流电的想法，他拒绝给特斯拉奖金，说给他奖金是个玩笑，特斯拉不懂美国人的幽默。

In 1888, Tesla quit working for Thomas Edison and went to work for Westinghouse so that he could develop the alternating current system.

1888年，特斯拉辞去了托马斯·爱迪生的工作，转到西屋电气工作，以便开发交流电系统。

On January 7, 1943, Tesla died at the age of 86 in his bed at the Hotel New Yorker.

1943年1月7日，特斯拉在纽约客酒店的床上去世，享年86岁。

Tesla, who had never married, had spent his life creating, inventing, and discovering.

特斯拉终身未婚，他用一生进行创造、发明与发现。