Obsessed and Overworked
The thoughts began to obsess him. Tesla began working on his idea from 3 a.m. until 11 p.m., leaving no time for his schoolwork. Everyone began to worry about him, including his professors. They wrote to his father, warning him that the inventor would die from overwork if he wasn’t removed from school immediately. But Tesla didn’t listen.
Nikola Tesla. Photo by Granger / Shutterstock
Instead, he turned to gambling. By the end of his third year, Tesla lost his scholarship and gambled away all of his savings. With final exams around the corner, Tesla realized that he was unprepared because he had been so caught up with his own problems. He asked his school for an extension to study but was ultimately denied.