He died penniless in a New York hotel room, but his "mad" sketches now live in your pocket and buzz on your nightstand.

Every January 7th, the science world pauses for Nikola Tesla - the man who claimed to talk to Mars and fell in love with a pigeon, yet somehow saw the 21st century clearer than anyone else.

He passed away in 1943, leaving behind trunks of notes that the FBI snatched up, fearing his "death rays" actually worked. While his contemporaries called him a crackpot, our daily lives are essentially a Tesla fan club.

The "Vest-Pocket" Prophecy

When Tesla described a cellphone in 1926.

In 1926, Tesla told Collier’s magazine that one day, the whole earth would be converted into a "huge brain". He described a device so simple you could carry it in your vest pocket, allowing us to see and hear each other as if face-to-face, irrespective of distance. Sound familiar? He was describing the cellphone nearly a century before the first iPhone hit the shelves. It’s almost eerie how he predicted FaceTime while people were still struggling with telegrams.

Drones and Wireless Magic

Nikola Tesla’s remote control boat, patented in 1898. (Photo: Public Domain via the Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrad)

Tesla didn't just stop at phones. In 1898, he shocked a crowd at Madison Square Garden by controlling a small boat via radio waves. Onlookers thought there was a tiny monkey inside or that it was pure sorcery. Tesla called it a "tele-automaton," essentially predicting modern drone technology and remote-controlled everything.

Tesla’s idea of wireless transmission

He even envisioned "wireless power" that would scrap all those messy cables we’re still tangled in today. Perhaps if J.P. Morgan hadn't pulled the funding for his Wardenclyffe Tower, we wouldn't be hunting for charging ports in every cafe.

The Global Brain

He spoke of the world becoming a "rhythmic whole," a massive interconnected network where information traveled instantly. This wasn't just radio; it was the blueprint for the World Wide Web and Wi-Fi. He saw a future where menial labor was performed by "thinking machines" - early whispers of robotics and automation. Honestly, it makes you wonder what else in those FBI-confiscated notes we haven't "invented" yet.

Tesla was a man out of time, a ghost from a future we are only just inhabiting. He was obsessed with the number three, lived in hotels, and died alone - but his ghost is in every signal your phone picks up. We live in his dream, even if we forgot to pay him for the blueprints.