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Backed by the financier J.P. Morgan, Nikola Tesla, the inventor and rival to Thomas Edison, built in the early 1900s the Wardenclyffe Tower, a 187-foot-high structure on Long Island, which he said could transmit electricity wirelessly. The project failed, and Tesla ended up broke. (In an earlier experiment in Colorado, Tesla had wirelessly lit up 200 lamps over a distance of 25 miles, but pedestrians witnessed sparks jumping between their feet and the ground, and electricity flowed from faucets when turned on. Oops.) 尼古拉•特斯拉是19世纪末20世纪初与托马斯•爱迪生相媲美的发明家。1901年，他从亿万富翁J.P.摩根那里获得资助，在纽约长岛修建了一座高达187英尺的无线电能传输塔——沃登克里弗塔。可惜项目最终失败，特斯拉本人也宣告破产。（特斯拉之前曾在科罗拉多州做过类似的实验，成功地将25英里之外的200盏灯点亮。不过据现场目击者称，他们能感到电流从地面穿过脚底，甚至当地居民在打开水龙头时，都能看到水流在哗哗放电……） Fast-forward over a century, and wireless electricity is finally gaining some traction. More than one hundred companies including startups such as WiTricity and ProxybyPower and giants such as Toyota (TM), Intel (INTC), Samsung, and Foxconn are investing in the technology. The challenge: to take the wires out of the power equation by transmitting electricity through magnetic fields. | 
