On January 15, 1943, more than one thousand distinguished citizens gathered in the massive cathedral of St. Johns The Divine in New York to pay their respects to one of the greatest scientists of all time.
He had electrified the world and given it radio, radar, television, microwaves, touch-tone dialing and hundreds of other devices we use every day. Yet few people even know the name of Dr. Nikola Tesla.
Dr. Tesla was a brilliant scientist whose discoveries often occurred as flashes of insight and visions. Some say he invented over a thousand devices, very few of which have been developed. He even found ways to tap into unlimited energy sources from the earth. He said his method was to deeply explore the laws of nature. Once he understood her laws, building devices to work with nature was easy, he said.
Tesla could construct and run an invention such as a motor in his head for weeks, and then mentally examine each part of it for signs of wear. He would then build the device without plans or blueprints. He had other unusual abilities, such as being able to predict events before they occurred.
Nikola Tesla was born in Yugoslavia, near the Turkish border. He was a voracious reader and learned to speak and read over a dozen languages. He studied electrical engineering, physics and mathematics. He worked for a time in Paris, but the Europeans showed little interest in his inventions. America was the land of technical innovation. In 1884, he came to New York City to work with Thomas Edison. Just before he immigrated, he was robbed and arrived in New York with only four cents and a book of poetry in his pocket.
Tesla could construct and run an invention such as a motor in his head for weeks, and then mentally examine each part of it for signs of wear. He would then build the device without plans or blueprints. He had other unusual abilities, such as being able to predict events before they occurred.
Nikola Tesla was born in Yugoslavia, near the Turkish border. He was a voracious reader and learned to speak and read over a dozen languages. He studied electrical engineering, physics and mathematics. He worked for a time in Paris, but the Europeans showed little interest in his inventions. America was the land of technical innovation. In 1884, he came to New York City to work with Thomas Edison. Just before he immigrated, he was robbed and arrived in New York with only four cents and a book of poetry in his pocket.
NICOLA TESLA AND THOMAS EDISON
Many exciting inventions were coming from Thomas Edison's laboratory in New Jersey. Edison had thrilled the world with his light bulb, phonograph, electric car and other wonders. (Thomas Edison drove around in an electric car in 1890.) Edison was also a businessman who had built many power stations supplying electricity to New York City. All of them produced direct current or DC.
Tesla had invented (he preferred the word discovered) a much more efficient electric power system. Instead of direct current, Tesla's system used alternating current or AC. The advantage of AC is it can be transmitted over long distances with almost no power loss. Direct current required booster stations about every square mile within a city. The young Mr. Tesla hoped Mr. Edison would be interested in his innovation.
Edison was not interested, however. He had invested heavily in the DC substations. When Edison's commercial interests were threatened, he became hostile toward Tesla and tried to discredit him. Tesla's only interest was in improving the lot of humanity. When Edison cheated Tesla out of $50,000.00, Tesla quit working for him.
Without income, Tesla at one point dug ditches for a living. However, he soon obtained funds to set up his own laboratory. In rapid succession, he received some 28 patents on his alternating current electrical system. George Westinghouse, an engineer and inventor in his own right, decided to finance Tesla. A lasting friendship developed between the two men.
Soon after, Westinghouse built the first large power station in America at Niagara Falls using Tesla's alternating current system. It supplied power to all of New York State and surrounding states as well. It firmly established Tesla’s alternating current system as the standard. Tesla's AC motor, which came to him in a vision while he was reciting a poem, is today found in every home appliance, tool and motor powered by AC electricity.
OTHER DISCOVERIES
Tesla realized that Edison's light bulb wasted energy. Tesla improved the filament and later developed the far more efficient fluorescent light bulb. Tesla also invented radio. Marconi, a student of Tesla, still receives credit as the inventor of radio. However, in 1943, the United States Supreme Court overturned Marconi's patent and declared Tesla the true inventor of radio. Later in his life, Marconi duplicated many of Tesla's devices, including particle beams and anti-gravity devices. Many great scientists of the twentieth century gave Tesla credit for inspiring their work.
Tesla was a very spiritual man, much concerned with the pressing problems of human existence. Tesla patented what he called the "anti-war machine". It was radar. Tesla thought that if we knew when an enemy was arriving, maybe it would stop wars. In 1927, he patented a particle beam 'death ray' that sends very concentrated amounts of power through the air. The beam could be set up to surround a nation. It would destroy any incoming ship, plane or missile. Tesla offered the device to England to help prevent the Nazi bombing of London during World War II. Unfortunately, the English refused the device. Today, the particle beam is still a military secret, used in the 'star wars' missile defense system and similar to laser weapons now in available to the military.
Another invention that Tesla thought would eliminate the need for human armies was the discovery of robotics or remote control. Tesla said it would be possible to send machines to fight one another, sparing human lives. In 1899, Tesla offered the US Navy a remote-controlled submarine that fired torpedoes to help win the Spanish-American War. He was laughed at, although he demonstrated the technology with a working model in New York harbor. Robotic planes and tanks are only now being deployed by the military.
Tesla discovered x-rays before Madame Curie. He stopped his x-ray experiments when he realized they were making him and his staff ill.
Tesla gave us microwave technology now used for all telephone communications. He invented ozone generators, touch-tone dialing, alternators, anti-gravity devices, two-way radios that worked anywhere on the planet, and many other items. Tesla transformer design is used today in automobile ignition coils, televisions, computer monitors, and hundreds of other applications.
In 1913, he patented a turbine engine that is virtually silent and has no blades. He also invented an oscillating internal combustion motor that is several times more efficient than present designs.
Another area in which Tesla experimented was the application of electricity for healing the body. He designed an 'energy bath' that sends beneficial frequencies to the body. Tesla credited his long life to the regular use of this machine. The device is not harmful in any way, but it is banned by the Food and Drug Administration, which bans many useful devices that may compete with drug company interests.
WHY IS TESLA UNKNOWN?
Why have we not heard of this wonderful man? One reason is he offered the world inventions that some are not ready to allow on the market. Along with suppressing these inventions, has come the suppression of the name of Tesla himself.
For example, Tesla considered his greatest invention to be wireless power transmission. In November of 1898, Tesla announced that he could supply power to the Paris Exhibition from the power station at Niagra Falls, New York "without wires"! He constructed two large towers, one on Long Island and the other in Colorado Springs, from which electrical power could be beamed to the ionosphere. From there, it could be tapped by everyone in the world. Had the work continued, electric power would be free for anyone in the world just be setting up an antenna.
There would be no pollution of the air from automobiles and aircraft. They would be powered by electricity beamed to them through the air. Third world nations would benefit the most, as many still have no electrical power in rural areas. Hunger and disease are often due to a lack of electric power for irrigation, cultivation, refrigeration, transportation, and other aspects of growing and distributing food and other necessities of life.
This invention would have opened up vast new industries, and in Tesla's words, "moved all of civilization ahead by 100 years". Of course, it also would have meant that his alternating current system, with billions invested around the world, would have become obsolete. His electric towers were mysteriously destroyed by fire, and soon he found he could no longer obtain funding for any of his projects.
Tesla also found ways to extract power from the air. The earth spins very rapidly on its axis, generating huge amounts of static electricity. It is possible to harness this electricity for the free use of all people on the earth. In fact, we live in a sea of energy just waiting to be tapped.
Finally, Tesla is thought to have developed technology for interplanetary communication. He stated that it took him two years to break the code. Later in his life, he spent up to two hours a day in this communication. On several occasions, he said that we are not alone in the universe.
MODERN TESLA RESEARCH
Although Tesla died almost seventy years ago, some of his research is alive and well. I attended several conferences where new inventions are displayed based on Tesla's discoveries.
One was a steam generator that has no boiler. Instead it has an ignition chamber where water, fuel and a spark combine to produce instant steam at any desired pressure or temperature. The device runs on any burnable fuel. There are hundreds of applications, from automobile propulsion to putting out fires.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TESLA
In many ways the story of Tesla is the story of idealistic men and women who care only about the welfare of humanity. They are often ridiculed, persecuted, and their work discredited. Tesla lived to see the world transformed by alternating current, radio, television and radar. However, he died broken-hearted that humanity missed the opportunity to bring free, non-polluting energy to everyone on the planet.
The message of Tesla's work for me is there is no scarcity. Solutions exist for all our technical problems. We are held back only by our disbelief and our unwillingness to accept the love of the Creator for us in terms of material help. Instead we doubt, fill ourselves with fear, and believe in scarcity. We believe leaders who perpetuate the lie of scarcity and spread fear and limitation.
Is it not time to implement technologies that would end pollution, hunger and lack of shelter, and fulfill the basic needs of everyone on earth? A key to making this happen is to know solutions exist and to learn about them.
Also, is it not time for each person to become inspired and creative, instead of fearful and depressed by the world situation? For those interested in Tesla, many technical and non-technical books and a few films are available. Some are listed below and may be found at libraries.
Resources
1. Cheney, Margaret, Tesla, Man out of Time, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1981.
2. Hunt, Inez, Lightning in His Hand, The Life Story of Nikola Tesla, Omni Publications, Hawthorne, CA, 1964.
3. O'Neil, John, Prodigal Genius-The Life of Nikola Tesla, Angriff Press, 1981.
4. Tesla, Nikola, My Inventions: Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, edited by Ben Johnson, Hart Brothers, 1982.
5. Tesla, Nikola, Catalogue of Patents, Vanous, Arthur, CO, 1988.
6. Walters, Helen, Nikola Tesla, Giant of Electricity, Crowell, NY, 1961.
7. Storm, Margaret, Return of the Dove, Health Research, Mokelume Hill, CA, 1972.
8. The Secret of Nikola Tesla (Film starring Orson Wells, available on VHS).
9. Special on Tesla - Corporation For Public Broadcasting
10. Tesla Tech (magazine).
Sources: Lawrence Wilson, M.D.
RSS Feed