© Mark Ollig
The night of July 10, 1856, the loud rumblings of a thunderstorm and the crackling of lightning bolts lit up the sky above a house located in the village of Smiljan, situated in the mountainous region of Western Lika, now a part of Croatia.
Inside the house, just as Georgina “Djuka” Tesla (née Mandic) began delivering her baby, another bright lightning bolt crackled across the sky.
The baby was named Nikola.
Nikola’s father, Milutin Tesla, spoke several languages, wrote poetry and political commentary, and eventually became an Orthodox priest.
“Tesla” is an original surname of Slavic Origin, meaning “harvester.”
Jan. 30, 1926, journalist John B. Kennedy interviewed the now-famous 69-year-old electrical researcher, inventor, and philosopher, Nikola Tesla, for an article in Collier’s magazine.
Kennedy described Tesla as “a tall, slender man, an ascetic figure dressed in sober clothes, and observing his interlocutor with a firm, deep look.”
His interview included some amazing future predictions by Nikola Tesla – including one for the smartphone.
During this 1926 interview, Tesla described future wireless communication as a means for allowing people “to communicate with one another instantly, irrespective of distance, with the clarity of a face-to-face meeting using a device that will fit in our vest pockets.”
Well, there we have it. Nikola Tesla perfectly described wireless telecommunications using a smartphone 95 years ago.
Looking back from today, we know Nikola Tesla had an exceptional ability to predict future trends from a technological standpoint accurately.
One of the statements in the 1926 interview which stands out for me is when Tesla said, “There is a clear difference between progress and technology. Progress provides benefits to humanity, technology not necessarily.”
In the Collier’s magazine article, Kennedy describes Tesla as “An almost monastic life that of the engineer-philosopher-inventor: he does not drink, does not smoke, follows a feral diet. Totally focused on his mission: discover and create.”
Nikola Tesla personally held 112 registered US Patents and was the creative force behind an estimated 700 US Patents.
A complete list of Tesla’s 112 US Patents is at https://bit.ly/2SxPZiQ.
Feb. 6, 1894, Tesla received US Patent 514,168, titled “Means for Generating Electric Currents.” View it at https://bit.ly/3vWWA3X.
Nov. 8, 1898, Tesla acquired US Patent 613,809 for a radio-controlled boat: https://bit.ly/2URiWHz.
Our modern lives are defined by and dependent upon our ability to reliably harness the flow of electricity to power the many devices we use daily.
Today, we can recharge our smartphones without being directly plugged into a physically wired electrical source; we place the smartphone onto a wireless charging base pad. Our smartphone’s battery is charged through the air – wirelessly.
We should not be too surprised to learn Nikola Tesla patented a method to transmit electrical energy through the air 116 years ago.
April 18, 1905, Nikola Tesla received US Patent 787,412, titled “Art of Transmitting Electrical Energy Through the Natural Mediums.” See this patent at https://bit.ly/35UWi2X.
From the mid-1890s through 1906, Tesla proposed, obtained funding, and built a facility to house his “World Wireless System.”
This system would wirelessly transmit and deliver the signals of radio, telephone, facsimile images, and electrical energy to devices around the world, using the Earth itself as a conducting medium to overcome line-of-sight distance limitations.
Tesla was attempting to create a worldwide wireless communications and power delivery system from a 185-foot-tall radio tower known as the Wardenclyffe Tower, built by Tesla on Long Island in New York.
“Earth’s electrical charge can be disturbed, and thereby electrical waves can be efficiently transmitted to any distance without the use of cables or wires,” Tesla stated in 1895.
Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower never obtained its intended fruition, and sadly, in 1917, the metal tower was demolished for scrap in an attempt to repay Tesla’s mounting debts. Some say the US Government destroyed it to keep it from being used by German spies – whatever the case, Tesla’s vision for sending wireless communications and electrical energy around the world had ended.
By 1922, the remains of Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower and its property were taken away by foreclosure.
Jan. 7, 1943, at his residence in room 3327 at the New Yorker Hotel, New York, NY, Nikola Tesla died at age 86.
Before Tesla died, he spoke of his completed research on “particle beam weaponry,” or what could be considered a laser beam. Tesla called it a “death beam.”
It was reported two days after Tesla’s death, the FBI and other US government agencies removed his files and research notes to check whether their contents contained any national security risks.
Other sources also reported that Tesla’s research papers on his particle beam weaponry went to Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, for evaluation and experimentation.
The results of any experiments or evaluation of Tesla’s particle beam weaponry research under an operation reportedly code-named “Project Nick” were never made public.
This year, The US Navy will deploy a 60-kilowatt laser weapon called High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) aboard the Burke-class destroyer USS Preble.
In April 1927, Nikola Tesla said, “Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine.”
There is so much more to know about Nikola Tesla. A reliable source to start with is the Nikola Tesla Memorial Center, located in Smiljan, Croatia. Its website is https://mcnikolatesla.hr/en.
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| THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER JAN. 26,1926, TUESDAY • PAGE 1 |
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| Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower and factory plant on Long Island, NY (1902) |
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| Nikola Tesla statue in front of the rebuilt home on the location where he was born |
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| Star Tribune Minneapolis, Minnesota Jan. 08, 1943, Friday • Page 5 |