Nikolai Tesla is one of history's most controversial figures when it comes to the world of science and invention. His contributions to modern science and technology include the invention of wireless communication and groundbreaking achievements in electrical engineering like the Alternating Current. His many inventions and bitter rivalry with Thomas Edison lent him fame and recognition, but his eccentricities and bizzare claims about what strange things might be possible with the application of science led him to be shunned late in life as a 'mad scientist.'
It is not known for sure if Tesla had a true psychological disorder, but modern psychologists have suggested due to his eccentric behavior that he suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and was a mysophobe. Researchers cite his obsession with the number three and his dislike of touching round objects as evidence of his OCD, and many accounts by Tesla's contemporaries state that he was obsessive about cleanliness and hygiene.
OCD has received notable press coverage recently, with a number of celebrities having revealed that they suffer from the disorder. OCD is interesting to me because it seems like it covers a very wide variety of symptoms, many of which were dismissed as mere eccentricities in Tesla's time. Perhaps with proper treatment, Tesla could have gone on to achieve and create some of his most outlandish ideas without the label of a 'mad scientist.'
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2 comments:
I like the analysis at the end about what could be possible. I felt it could have had a little more information on how this afftected his work, but other than that I felt it was very well written!
I think this blog is really good. There is so many cases like this is the world. I find it really interesting.
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