Nikola Tesla attended the Imperial-Royal Technical College in Graz, Austria. The school, now known as Graz University of Technology, was an important stage in his early engineering education.
Tesla enrolled in 1875 after receiving a scholarship from the Military Frontier authorities. He studied mathematics, physics, mechanics, and electrical engineering, and reportedly devoted himself intensely to his coursework during his first year. His time in Graz helped deepen his interest in electrical machines, especially the possibilities of alternating current.
Tesla did not complete a degree there. Accounts of his education often become muddled because he later attended Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague without graduating there either. These institutions were part of the Austro-Hungarian educational world, but Graz—not Vienna, Salzburg, or Linz—was the city associated with the Imperial-Royal Technical College.
Graz remains closely linked with Tesla’s formative years. His exposure to electrical engineering there preceded the practical work, inventions, and business ventures that eventually brought him to the United States in 1884.