The cat that changed the world

The world might look very, very different today if it weren’t for a black cat named Mačak. Mačak was the childhood cat of Nikola Tesla. When he was three years old, Tesla had an experience he would never forget. In a 1939 letter to Pola Fotitch, the daughter of Yugoslavia’s ambassador to the United States, Tesla himself tells the story:

In the dusk of the evening as I stroked Macak’s back, I saw a miracle which made me speechless with amazement. Macak’s back was a sheet of light, and my hand produced a shower of crackling sparks loud enough to be heard all over the house … My mother seemed charmed — “Stop playing with the cat,” she said. “He might start a fire.” But I was thinking abstractly. Is Nature a gigantic cat? If so, who strokes its back? … I cannot exaggerate the effect of this marvelous night on my childish imagination. Day after day I have asked myself, what is electricity?

Tesla’s tenacious curiosity paid off years later. He went on to build the first induction motor in 1887. This and other, related inventions played a crucial role in establishing the alternating current electricity systems all over the world.

Mačak provided the spark (pun intendend) that would help light up the whole world. Quite an achievement!

Do you have a cat named after Tesla or another famous scientist? Please send us a picture or video so we can share it with other cat science lovers.