In 1874, at fifteen, alone and penniless, Michael Pupin sailed for America from Serbia to avoid political persecution, to get an education in science and to invent "something of value." 

Forced to take menial jobs to support himself, he never lost sight of his goal. He learned English, attended night school and won a scholarship to Columbia College. There he heard of the discoveries of the British scientists, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell, whose work in the field of electromagnetic power opened a new area of science. It was a challenge Pupin could not resist. He went to England, then to Germany. By the time he returned to teach at Columbia, he was fully equipped to pursue his own path of discovery.

Among his most important discoveries were the Pupin coil and the induction coil system which made long distance telephone lines possible; and electric resonator or tuner to amplify sound in wireless, radio and TV; a type of wireless receiver which eliminated static; a method of short-exposure X-ray that revolutionized medicine.

In 1924 he won the Pulitzer Prize for his autobiography From Immigrant to Inventor, and he also set up a scholarship fund in his mother's name to give worthy young Serbs an education in science.

Not only did his discoveries change the communication pattern of the world, but from his classrooms came a new generation of scientists eager to continue his work. By the time of his death in 1935, Michael Pupin had left his adopted land rich with the fruits of his genius.

From the book