Elon Musk Becomes Richest Person On Same Day That Nikola Tesla Died Broke 78 Years Ago

On Thursday, Tesla Inc.¡¯s share price surged 7.9%, taking Musk past Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Musk is now worth $194.8 billion, or $9.5 billion more than Bezos.

Reuters

January 7, Elon Musk became the richest man in the world, on the same day in 1943, Nikola Tesla after whom Tesla Motors is named died broke.

Who Was Nikola Tesla?

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Serbian-American engineer and physicist who made scores of breakthroughs in the development, transmission and application of electric power. He invented the first motor with alternating current (AC) and developed technology for AC generation and transmission. While he was renowned and admired, his many inventions could never be converted into long-term financial success, unlike his rival¡¯s Thomas Edison.

Scientists attribute the revolution of electric age to Nikola Tesla.

An inveterate inventor, Tesla filed more than 700 patents for everything from wireless communication to fluorescent lighting. Some of his ideas never came to fruition, including a "death-beam."

Wikimedia Commons

Tesla lived in a hotel in New York in his last decades, working on new inventions as his vitality and mental health faded. As the eccentricities of genius, his fascination with number three and fastidious washing were ignored. He spent his final years feeding the city's pigeons and interacting with them.

Tesla died at the age of 87 on January 7, 1943, in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel.

Why is Tesla Motors named so?

Founders Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning chose the name Tesla to pay homage to Nikola Tesla.

According to an old post on the automaker's website:

'Without Tesla¡®s vision and brilliance, our car wouldn't be possible. We're confident that if he were alive today, Nikola Tesla would look over our 100 percent electric car and nod his head with both understanding and approval'.

Also Read: 'Next Year For Sure' Says Elon Musk About Tesla's Entry In India & People Can't Wait

Medium

The irony of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, becoming the world¡¯s richest man on the same day that Nikola Tesla - the name behind the company - died broke and alone in a hotel, cannot be lost on anyone.