Nikola Tesla, after exploring other potential financiers, writes to JP Morgan again for financial support. Morgan responds with a clear “No.” Tesla responds with a truly angry response, and knowing that Morgan considers himself a devout Anglican, he writes: “You are a man like Bismark. Great but uncontrollable. (…) You are not Christian at all; you are a fanatical musulman. Once you say no, come what may, it is no.” And in a subsequent letter he adds: “You say you have fulfilled your contract with me. You have not. (…) You are a big man, but your work is wrought in passing form; mine is immortal. I came to you with the greatest inventions of all time. I have more creations named after me than any man who has gone before, not excepting Archimedes and Galileo—the giants of invention. (…) You discredited me!” Despite the incredible anger at these words, Tesla still hopes for Morgan’s reconsideration. But he never will. In May 1905, Tesla’s AC motor patent also expired, after 17 years (the patent’s lifespan at the time). And in September 1905, Tesla’s partner Rankine died suddenly at just 47 years old. Tesla suffered a bout of depression and nervous breakdown, which continued until 1906. After that, he never again attempted projects as ambitious as Wardenclyffe.
