Let there be light: Nikola Tesla 🇭🇷

How could we resist a highway sign pointing the way to the birthplace of Nikola Tesla?  Not to be confused with the Tesla car company, Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor most famous for his work on developing alternating-current (AC) electricity supply systems (i.e. the power in household wall sockets).  He was born in the present day Croatian town of Smiljan; previously part of the Austrian Empire.  Tesla’s life has been a roller coaster that brought him to work at Edison's company, Machine Works, only to be screwed out of bonuses that caused him to leave after 6 months.  Afterwards he started his company Tesla Electric Light & Manufacturing; however, this ended poorly when his business partners left him penniless and digging ditches for $2 per day. 

Eventually Tesla developed an induction motor that ran on AC power that made him financially independent allowing him to pursue his own interests including the Tesla Coil.  Tesla Coils make high voltage, low current, high-frequency AC electricity and we got to experience one producing 1-million Volts.  The kids got to hold a fluorescent bulb in the  electric field and experience them light up as electrons flow through the air.   

The kids (and Jason) couldn't resist the playground fun!