Bain News Service, Publisher. Nicola Tesla. ca. 1890. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2014684845/.
This photograph could be used with the biography of Tesla written by Vicky Baez or the excerpt from Samantha Hunt's novel The Invention of Everything Else, a fictional interior monologue of Tesla, both of which appear in some current eighth-grade textbooks. Tesla's inventions are also widely studied in secondary science courses.
This is a black and white portrait photograph of Nikola Tesla.
Nikola Tesla was an inventor and scientist best known for his groundbreaking contributions to the development of alternating current (AC) electrical systems. Tesla's inventions, including the Tesla coil, revolutionized the fields of electricity and technology. His genius was not widely recognized during his lifetime, and he made little profit from his legendary ideas.
- What details are you noticing in the picture?
- What kind of man do you think Tesla is based on this photograph?
- Who do you think was the intended audience for this image?
- Why do you think the image was created?
- What do you think the creator of the image wants you to think about his
- subject?
Iowa Academic Standards
RH.6-8.3: Identify key steps in a text’s description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered).
- While a portrait does not, by itself, outline a process, research into Tesla’s contributions to both history and science can help students meet this standard.
RH.6-8.7: Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital text to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
- Taking the information about the subject, the photographer, and the time period helps students to integrate this visual from 1890 with current literature about Tesla and how his name is being used today.
- Teachers could lead the study of this source using the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Guide for Prints and Photographs. Let students work through all three steps on the graphic organizer, then let them share one column at a time to a small group of three to four. Have students add to their graphic organizer items they may not have thought of from other students.
- Once students have identified what they see, think, and wonder about using the Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool, they could follow up with researching one or more of their questions generated during discussion.
- Tesla’s name is now associated with a car company owned by Elon Musk. In 2024, Musk is allied with Donald J. Trump, and this may pose a challenge for some parents due to heightened political concerns.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- A way to address these concerns would be to assure parents that this person was a real inventor, and The Nikola Tesla Museum has a full biography and list of his scientific contributions.
- Albert Einstein may be a more well-known scientist to students. Starting with his portrait may help to build more background knowledge of what an inventor or scientist does.
- This Sketch of Nikola Tesla from the Omaha Daily Bee (March 15, 1896) would make for interesting comparison and contrast to the actual photograph taken six years before.
- The Nikola Tesla Museum and the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe both contain many additional media sources on Tesla and his inventions.
- The Library of Congress also has a research guide available on Tesla.