We might know a lot of things about Nikola Tesla – like his invention of radio, induction motor and the discovery of cosmic rays. Thanks to this man for devising AC system (Altering Current) that we use in our homes today. But did you know, he was as eccentric as he was intelligent. Here are certain things that we probably never knew about this genius. Read 15 Interesting Facts about Nikola Tesla below:

1 Nikola Tesla was born during a lightning storm.

Call it a co-incidence, a divine signal or good luck, but the history has it that Nikola Tesla was born during a lightning storm. It was the midnight of July 9 and July 10, when his mother was midway through birth and a deep lightning struck. The midwife who was escorting her mother termed it a bad omen and declared that this child will be a child of darkness. To this her mother’s words were, “No. He will be a child of light.”(source)

2 Nikola Tesla claimed to never sleep for more than two hours a day.

To all those who believe that a human body needs 8 hours sleep to perform well, here’s some news: Nikola Tesla claimed that he never used to sleep for more than two hours a day! That means that out of 24 hours, he was awake for 22 hours. On one occasion, Tesla got so involved in his work at his laboratory that he continued working for 84 hours without any sleep or rest.(source)

3 Nikola Tesla drank whiskey every day. He thought whiskey would make him live up to 150 years.

Cheers to a long life! Another interesting fact about Nikola Tesla is that he used to drink Whiskey daily, because he thought that whiskey would make him live up to 150 years. He considered whiskey as a tonic to live younger and longer, and only gave up drinking after the prohibition came in the First World War. Gradually however, he gave up on all the beverages except milk and water.(source)

4 Nikola Tesla never married or fell in love, despite numerous women “madly in love with him”.

They say that behind every successful man there is a woman. But Nikola Tesla proved an exception. He never married or had any serious love affair, for he believed that marriage (and sex) would restrict his abilities to think scientifically. Even though it is reported that there were a lot of women who eyed Tesla, some even ‘madly in love with him’, but Nicola Tesla refrained. However, on his death bed, Tesla told a reporter, “Sometimes I feel that by not marrying, I made too great a sacrifice to my work.” Grudges, eh?(source)

5 Nikola Tesla believed that women would become superior to men in future societal standing, and stated that “a new sex order” will appear with “the female as superior”.

Along with being a scientist, an electric engineer, a mechanical engineer, a physicist and a futurist of his repute, Nikola Tesla had feminist streaks too. He had a firm view that women are the builders of the society and soon there will be “a new sex order…with the female as superior”. He mentioned “This struggle of the human female toward sex equality will end in a new sex order, with the female as superior. “(source)