Nikola Tesla was born on July 10, 1856, in Smiljan, Austrian Empire (present-day Croatia).
The fourth of five children, Tesla discovered as he attended school that he had an eidetic memory – meaning he was able to retain more information and for longer than his fellow students. This sometimes got young Tesla in trouble as his teachers thought him to be cheating.
In 1875, Tesla attended Austrian Polytechnic, a higher education school in Graz, Austria. Tesla did well in his first year, but later became addicted to gambling and his success faltered. He left the school in 1878. In 1880, Tesla went to several lectures at Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague – he had been too late to formally enroll in the college.