Alternating Currents
with Nikola Tesla

AC vs DC: Why I'm Right and Edison Knows It

Tesla opens the series with what he considers the most important scientific debate of the 19th century — and the most personally infuriating one. He explains alternating current versus direct current with the patience of someone who has been explaining this for forty years to people who keep choosing wrong. "Direct current is a candle," he says. "Alternating current is the sun. Edison chose the candle because he invented the candle and he could not bear to admit the sun was better." He walks through the technical advantages — AC can be transformed to different voltages, transmitted over long distances, and powers every home today. "I am not saying I was right because I want credit," he adds. "I am saying I was right because the entire electrical grid of the modern world is proof."

Guest: George Westinghouse (the man who bet his fortune on AC and won)

The Pigeon I Love: A Personal Episode

Tesla's most intimate episode. In his later years, Tesla developed a deep bond with a specific white pigeon that visited his window at the Hotel New Yorker. "She was beautiful," he says. "She had white feathers and gray-tipped wings and she came to me every day. I loved her as a man loves a woman." He is completely sincere. The producer asks if this is a metaphor. It is not a metaphor. Tesla describes feeding pigeons in Bryant Park, nursing injured ones back to health, and spending thousands of dollars on their care. "People think this makes me eccentric," he says. "These people have not met a good pigeon. When you meet a good pigeon, you will understand." The episode is surprisingly moving.

Guest: No guest — just Tesla and a pigeon cooing in the background

I Invented Radio (Marconi Can Fight Me)

Tesla delivers a 67-minute argument that he invented radio before Guglielmo Marconi, supported by patent dates, technical specifications, and a level of righteous indignation that has been building since 1901. "Marconi used seventeen of my patents to build his radio," he says. "Seventeen. The Nobel Committee gave him the prize. This is like giving someone an award for baking a cake when they stole the flour, the eggs, the oven, and the recipe from my kitchen." He notes that the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld his radio patents in 1943 — after he died. "I won the case," he says. "I just had to die first. Justice has terrible timing."

Guest: Marconi (invited, declined, sent a telegram saying "I invented radio")

Wardenclyffe Tower: The Greatest Thing I Almost Built

Tesla describes the Wardenclyffe Tower project — his grand vision for wireless transmission of energy across the entire planet. A 187-foot tower on Long Island that would have broadcast free electricity to the world. "Free energy," he says. "For everyone. No wires. No meters. No bills. I would transmit power through the Earth itself." The problem: J.P. Morgan, who was funding the project, pulled out when he realized there was no way to meter and charge for wireless electricity. "Morgan asked me, 'Where do I put the meter?'" Tesla recalls. "I told him there was no meter. He told me there was no more money. This is what happens when you try to give humanity something for free. The money people say no." The tower was demolished in 1917. Tesla calls this "the worst day of the twentieth century, and I include both wars."

Guest: J.P. Morgan (via a letter read by Tesla in the most sarcastic voice possible)

Why I Gave Up My Royalties (It Seemed Like a Good Idea)

The financial episode. Westinghouse had agreed to pay Tesla $2.50 per horsepower of AC electricity generated — a royalty that would have made Tesla the first billionaire in history. When Westinghouse's company faced financial trouble, Tesla tore up the contract. "Westinghouse believed in me when nobody else would," he says. "He risked his entire fortune on my work. When he needed help, I helped. This is what loyalty looks like." He pauses. "It also looks like dying in a hotel room with no money. I do not recommend it. But I would do it again." The producer calculates that the royalties would be worth approximately $300 billion today. Tesla says "yes, I am aware" and changes the subject.

Guest: George Westinghouse (emotional, grateful, guilty)

Edison Electrocuted an Elephant and I Will Never Forgive Him

The angriest episode. During the "War of Currents," Edison's team publicly electrocuted animals using AC power to demonstrate its "danger" — including Topsy the elephant at Coney Island in 1903. Tesla is furious about this decades later. "He killed an elephant to win a business argument," Tesla says. "He could not win on engineering merits, so he resorted to animal cruelty and propaganda. This is who Thomas Edison was. A brilliant man who chose marketing over morality." He also addresses Edison's role in creating the electric chair (which used AC) as another deliberate smear campaign. "He could not beat my technology," Tesla says, "so he associated it with death. And people call him a hero. I built the future. He killed an elephant."

Guest: Harold P. Brown (Edison's associate, who actually conducted the electrocutions — very uncomfortable throughout)

Working for Edison: The Worst $50,000 I Never Got Paid

Tesla recounts his time working for Edison in 1884. Edison promised Tesla $50,000 if he could improve Edison's DC generators. Tesla worked for months, completely redesigned the generators, and presented the improvements. Edison's response: "Tesla, you don't understand our American humor." He did not pay. "This was the moment I learned two things," Tesla says. "First, always get payment terms in writing. Second, Thomas Edison is not funny. Not then. Not now. Not ever. His 'humor' cost me $50,000 and I have been angry about it for forty years." He then lists every other time someone cheated him, which takes nineteen minutes.

Guest: Thomas Edison (invited, sent a note saying "It was a joke")

The Rotating Magnetic Field: How I Solved the Biggest Problem in Physics During a Walk

Tesla describes the moment of his greatest invention — the rotating magnetic field, which is the basis for all AC motors. He was walking in a park in Budapest in 1882, reciting Goethe's Faust from memory, when the complete solution appeared in his mind fully formed. He drew it in the dirt with a stick. "It came to me like lightning," he says. "Not gradually. Not piece by piece. The entire motor, complete, rotating in my mind. I could see every component. I knew every measurement. I drew it in the sand and it worked. It worked the first time. This has happened to me several times. I do not understand where these visions come from. I simply receive them." He attributes his visualization ability to a childhood illness that gave him involuntary mental images.

Guest: Antal Szigety (friend who was walking with him and witnessed the moment)

My 700 Patents and the Ones They Stole

Tesla discusses his patent portfolio — approximately 300 issued patents across 26 countries — and the inventions that were taken from him. "I patented the fluorescent light. The neon light. The speedometer. The radio. The remote control. The electric motor. X-ray imaging. Radar principles. Wireless communication," he lists. "For approximately half of these, someone else received credit. For the other half, I was credited but never paid." He brings up the radio patent dispute again (the producer notes this is the fourth time). He also discusses inventions he envisioned but never built: smartphones, the internet, drones, and renewable energy grids. "I described all of these in 1900," he says. "In a magazine article. Nobody read it."

Guest: A modern patent attorney (who listens in increasing horror)

The Colorado Springs Laboratory: When I Made Lightning

In 1899, Tesla built a laboratory in Colorado Springs and produced artificial lightning bolts 135 feet long — the largest man-made electrical discharges in history at that time. He blew out the power for the entire city of Colorado Springs. Twice. "The first time was an accident," he says. "The second time was to confirm my calculations." He describes the experiments with childlike enthusiasm: massive coils, electrical arcs that could be heard ten miles away, and the accidental discovery of stationary waves in the Earth. "I lit 200 lightbulbs from 26 miles away with no wires," he says. "No wires. In 1899. And yet people still ask me if wireless power is possible. I demonstrated it 127 years ago. In Colorado. It melted my equipment."

Guest: Fritz Lowenstein (lab assistant who was nearly electrocuted several times and describes the experience as "character-building")

Room 3327: My Life at the Hotel New Yorker

Tesla spent the last ten years of his life in Room 3327 at the Hotel New Yorker. He had no money, no laboratory, and no family. He fed pigeons, wrote letters to friends who had mostly died, and occasionally gave interviews to reporters who treated him as a curiosity. "I changed the world," he says quietly. "And the world forgot about me while I was still alive." He describes his daily routine: wake at 8 AM, work on theoretical papers until noon, walk to the park to feed pigeons, return to write until midnight. His diet consisted of warm milk, crackers, and the occasional vegetable. He had no possessions except his papers and his pigeon. The episode is heartbreaking. "I do not regret the money," he says. "I regret Wardenclyffe. I was going to give the world free energy. They stopped me because free things are bad for business."

Guest: Kenneth Swezey (journalist and friend who visited him regularly in his final years)

Season Finale: Edison Is Still Wrong (A Retrospective)

Tesla closes the season with a comprehensive, meticulously organized, deeply satisfying retrospective on every single thing Thomas Edison got wrong. Direct current: wrong. The phonograph business model: wrong. Concrete furniture (yes, Edison tried to sell concrete furniture): wrong. The electric chair: morally wrong. The elephant: unforgivably wrong. "History remembers Edison as the greatest inventor who ever lived," Tesla says. "Edison had 1,093 patents. I had 300. But my 300 power the modern world and his 1,093 include a concrete piano. I rest my case." He then, unexpectedly, says something kind about Edison: "He was a hard worker. He never stopped. In that, we were the same. I wish we could have been colleagues instead of enemies. But he made that impossible by being wrong about everything." The episode ends with the sound of an AC motor humming.

Guest: Thomas Edison (appeared as a surprise guest, they argued for 20 minutes, shook hands, and Edison left saying "Decent podcast. Wrong about everything. 2 stars.")

AC Power Solutions (NOT Edison Electric)

"Power your home the right way — with alternating current. AC Power Solutions uses the technology that Nikola Tesla invented and the entire world adopted because it is objectively superior. We are not affiliated with Edison Electric, General Electric, or any company that has ever electrocuted an elephant. Use code TESLA for 10% off your first month."

Tesla's note: "I approve of this sponsor because they use my technology and because their name does not contain the word Edison. These are my two requirements."

PigeonPal Premium Bird Feed

"The finest bird seed blend for the discerning pigeon enthusiast. Formulated by avian nutritionists to support healthy feathers, strong beaks, and the kind of luminous white plumage that makes a Serbian inventor fall in love. PigeonPal: Because every pigeon deserves to be someone's best friend."

Tesla's note: "I have tested this product on my pigeons and they approve. The white pigeon in particular seemed pleased. She told me so. People think I am joking. I am not joking."

Wardenclyffe Wireless (A Vision, Not Yet a Product)

"Wardenclyffe Wireless: Free energy transmitted through the Earth itself. No meters. No wires. No bills. Currently seeking funding after J.P. Morgan pulled out. If you are an investor who believes in the future and does not ask 'where do I put the meter,' please contact Nikola Tesla at the Hotel New Yorker, Room 3327."

Tesla's note: "This is not technically a sponsor. This is a cry for help. I need $150,000 and a plot of land. The future of humanity depends on it. J.P. Morgan, if you are listening, I am still angry."

Decent podcast. Wrong about everything. Two stars because the production quality is good and he speaks clearly. But AC is dangerous, the pigeon episode was strange, and he still owes me an apology for quitting my laboratory. I discovered the light bulb. He discovered how to complain. We are not the same.

I believed in Nikola Tesla when nobody else would. I bet my company on alternating current because he showed me it was the future. He was right. He was always right. And when my company was in trouble, he tore up a contract worth billions to save me. He is the most brilliant and most generous person I have ever known. Five stars. Subscribe. He deserves it.

The man is a genius. I funded Wardenclyffe because I saw the potential. I pulled the funding because there was no business model. You cannot give things away for free. This is not how capitalism works. Three stars for the science. Zero stars for the business plan. Tesla could have been the richest man alive. Instead he feeds pigeons. This is why I fund people with MBAs.

Tesla is my dear friend and the most extraordinary man I have ever met. I visited his laboratory and he shot lightning across the room while calmly discussing poetry. He once vibrated my entire body at a resonant frequency and I nearly soiled myself. Five stars. Everyone should experience nearly soiling themselves in Tesla's lab. It is a formative experience.

We are writing this review using alternating current, on devices that use Tesla coils, connected via the wireless communication principles he pioneered, lit by fluorescent lights he patented, in buildings powered by polyphase AC systems he invented. We did not give him a single dollar. We gave Edison a movie. We are sorry. Five stars.