Nikola Tesla Genius of Technology?

Well, before I make any criticism I will say that I have greatly admired Tesla's work since my teens. I am inclined to believe in his inventions however wacky they might seem. Besides, if his inventions were not true or not so great then why would the government confiscate anything?

The point I would like to put forward is the problem of electric fields interfering with biological life. I read in a newspaper this week that about 35% of people now have an adverse reaction to electrical devices. My friend pointed out that the missle attack early warning system in western Alaska is said to be making tens of thousands of people ill with its tranmissions. I personally get a dull headache on the side of head when using a mobile phone. I know other people that do too. If a silly little phone (admittedly very close to body) can do that then what would a device pumping out billions of watts do? I've known people who experience pain from the big satelite dishes when the dish is aimed low over the horizon. Plus scientists are only just beginning to realise the huge effect that electric fields have on biological life. For example, in recent years an experiment was done which showed that the front and back of a person's body is defined in the embyro by an electric field which develops across the embryo, due to one side of the embryo having more ion pumps than the other side. Other recent experiments have shown that wound healing and cell reproduction is dramatically affected by local electric fields around the cells in question. It seems evolution has seized upon electric fields as a major environmental factor which is useable. Also, it's been known for decades that magnetic fields and EM waves affect charged particles/molecules (hence microwave ovens) and biological life is full of charged molecules. Therefore any device which radiates electrical or magnetic energy threatens the natural functioning of life as we know it. Sure, people aren't dropping like flies from all the EM radiation we create already, but that doesn't mean it isn't affecting us, subtlely or otherwise.

I am awed by the work Tesla did and I wish I was technically expert enough to experiment with it myself. I do think it would be nice to fully understand his work and inventions and develop the theory behind them. But I feel that experimenting and developing theories is as far as it should go. We shouldn't make any long-term use of his EM technologies, so as to avoid harm to ourselves and other life on this planet. Life has evolved to cope with natural magnetic and EM phenomena but it certainly hasn't evolved to cope with Tesla!

He is responsible for AC power , the hydro-electric plant at Niagra Falls .

As I was up in Rochester the past few days, I actually drove over to Niagra Falls. I was surprised to see a statue of Nikola Tesla there, and then explained to my wife who he was (she's extremely bright, but simply never knew too much about him, had heard of him though and had heard of the Tesla Coil, more than I can say for most).

He was a veritable genius. I only hope that the government really is sitting on a working "free energy" system, to use when we want to put the oil barons out of business and poorbox the Middle East. Sadly, I doubt that is the case.

BTW, the experiment with the boat is the Philladelphia Experiment. There is still some doubt he or Einstein were connected with the project, but he definitely would have been a prime candidate for it...

He had an intense rivalry with Edison, but lacked Edison's business acumen. Still, I always find it amazing that we use AC power each day, and very few people even know his name....

Originally posted by Gazrok
As I was up in Rochester the past few days, I actually drove over to Niagra Falls. I was surprised to see a statue of Nikola Tesla there, and then explained to my wife who he was.

I read somewhere that they leave that statue deliberately unilluminated overnight. A shame if it's true.

I agree with Howard Roark that Tesla wa a great engineer who did brilliant work but, like other geniuses (Shockley and Teller come to mind), went .. .well, "mad" might be too strong; let's just say "increasingly eccentric".

Think about his inventions, though.

He's been dead for ... what? 60 years? If his stuff ever existed and his papers were even the least bit coherent, why hasn't anyone managed to duplicate all the things he claimed that he had done?

And don't say because the government or anyone else suppressed his stuff; they certainly didn't suppress trasnsistors, lasers, computers, LSI and a whole bunch of other technologies equally important and unsettling on the world economy.

If Tesla really had developed that stuff and the govenrment's got it, then why do we continue to lose (or at best, tie) wars?

[edit on 17-9-2004 by Off_The_Street]

I read somewhere that they leave that statue deliberately unilluminated overnight. A shame if it's true.

I was there as it turned night, and I don't recall it being lit up. Then again, almost EVERYTHING on the American side of the falls shuts down at dusk on a weekday. I was doing good to find a place to get a burger...neat little rock and roll cafe place... If I had more time, would have went over to the Canadian side...I hear the view is much better there. This was my first time there. Even went on the walk at the bottom of the falls! Very cool (and has to be about the most unsafe thing in the world, hehe...wet wood with lots of green slippery algae...good plan).

I'm sure I'll go back fairly soon...

and I beleive the only patten he got any of his stuff was for the Telsa Coil (basicaly the coil in the oven/oven coil)

Originally posted by liquidskin
and I beleive the only patten he got any of his stuff was for the Telsa Coil (basicaly the coil in the oven/oven coil)

Search in google for "Tesla patents."

He has well over a hundred.

You guys trying to debunk Nikola Tesla... sad. I especially like the one where he would have interfered with wireless communications, uh, he kinda like invented wireless energy transfer, Marconi ripped him off for untold millions. Fact of the matter is, Tesla was perhaps one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. You have edison to thank for your 100 watt light bulbs sucking away at your power bills as well, look into the carbon button lamp. It's a shame that any negative connotations have carried over into the history books, if you guys don't have any more knowlege or respect for the man than to try to discredit him, then indeed, J. P. Morgan, Edison and his other enemies have won after all. Some of the technology that he was responsible for is STILL classified... sad really. He deserved to be recognised as one of the greats, and here he is getting 'debunked' on a BBS...
By the way for you Tesla saavy folks, he and Eisntein never really had much of a 'working relationship', there were a couple of letters and a meeting at some 'energy fair' but there isn't any evidence to support that they had worked together on any project together, at least that I have been able to dig up. Interesting bit about the unified field theory though...

I must agree that he is a particularly interesting person...

This is one of the coolest site about him, lots of infos, biography, inventions,...
Tesla: The Electric Magician
I don't think it was quoted in previous links... If so, sorry!

Most of his inventions haven't even been built yet!

Also he never wrote alll the the invention down, he would run it in his head and fix it there if it was wrong and then run it again over and over until it ran, then he built it.

Everything was worked out in his head and it stayed there.

Just think of the inventions that others made money on after reading Tesla's 1898 book.

He gave them ideas to motorize everything!!!!!

I for one, do enjoy AC power. He gave away the royalties he was recieving for the use of AC power. It would have made him a billionaire, but he was more concerned with people recieving electricity than making billions. Very rare person indeed.

Tesla was indeed a genious. I did a research paper on him during college, his whole life was interesting. Like Tesla before me said, he ran his ideas through his head. Nikola Tesla invented AC laying in a hospital bed and perfected it in his own mind over the course of a year or so in there.