I heard that Mark Twain was a good friend of inventor Nikola Tesla? What kind of relationship did they have?
By: Charles at: 23rd July, 2009
Status:
Answered
Answer:
They did indeed have a long and somewhat close friendship. They met in the 1880s after Tesla came to the United States and became an associate of Thomas Edison. According to Tesla's autobiography, the scientist had become interested in Mark Twain after he read Twain's works during a long illness (though the chronology is somewhat suspect). The reality is that Tesla clearly was affected by Twain's writing, and Twain, very likely, was drawn to Tesla's experiments with electricity.
They became friendly during their shared times at The Players Club in New York, and Twain became a somewhat frequent visitor to Tesla's lab. In fact, Twain was one of those who posed for photographs with Tesla and was part of the experiments with phosphorescent lighted photos.
Their connection lasted even during the time Twain lived in Europe during the 1890s.