Click to embiggenElectrical history from PW Lanier and the Minneapolis Institute of Art:
This tabletop Tesla coil was likely made for science classes, producing long, impressive sparks in the air and lighting a fluorescent tube held at a distance. Since a Tesla coil is really a radio transmitter without an antenna, Tesla is credited with helping invent the radio—he filed the first radio patent. And his legacy continues today, with his namesake battery-powered automobile and Tesla coils that are still made by hobbyists, demonstrating the beauty of machines that produce electricity.
[via]