Mačak

Mačak (Serbian for 'tomcat') was the beloved black cat of the young Nikola Tesla, who would grow up to become one of history's greatest inventors and the pioneer of alternating-current electricity. In a letter written late in his life, Tesla described Mačak as 'the finest of all cats in the world' and recalled a childhood evening that he credited with shaping his entire future. Stroking the cat's back one dry winter day, he saw a sheet of crackling sparks leap from its fur and felt the static electricity beneath his hand. Astonished, the boy asked his father what it could be. His father's reply — that it was electricity, the same thing seen as lightning through the trees in a storm — set the young Tesla wondering whether nature itself might be a giant cat, and if so, who turned the great wheel of its tail. 'I cannot exaggerate the effect of this marvelous night on my childish imagination,' he later wrote. 'Day after day I have asked myself what is electricity and found no answer.' From that single shower of sparks off a cat's back grew a fascination that would one day help electrify the modern world.