Page - 18 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

18 Nikola Tesla registered numerous other patents in the following years, and he continued in this scientific and technical direction until about 1922. Later, his work became increasingly of a general philosophical nature and would be- come regarded today in many ways as esoteric. Nikola Tesla died in a New York hotel room, probably on 7 January, 1943. He had attached a ‘Don’t disturb’ sign to his door with the result that he was only found dead in his bed on 8 January 1943. Nikola Tesla had been born into a very dynamic era of technological develop- ment. Especially in electrical engineering, the period between 1850 and 1950 was marked by important inventions. Among the most important representa- tives of this period were: • Werner von Siemens (1816 – 1892) • Wilhelm Conrad von Röntgen (1845 – 1923) • Thomas Alva Edison (1847 – 1931) • Heinrich Hertz (1857 – 1894) • Guglielmo Marconi (1874 – 1937) • Otto Nußbaumer (1876 – 1930) The work of three persons can be seen as having a very close connection to Nikola Tesla: • Thomas Alva Edison, with whom he worked very closely for a time. • Guglielmo Marconi, with whom he conducted a patent dispute for many years which was eventually settled in Tesla’s favour (after his death) by the Supreme Court of the USA. • Otto Nußbaumer, with whom he did not have any direct contact, but who managed to transmit music wirelessly for the first time ever at the Chair of Physics at the College of Technology, Graz, on 15 June 1904.