|
Page 3 of 3
The World System
Tesla convinced the industrialist J. P. Morgan to provide $150,000 for further research. In 1901, at Wardenclyffe, on Long Island, New York, Tesla constructed a large workshop and a 57 metre high wooden tower which was to be the first "magnifying transmitter" in his "world system". Unfortunately, the money ran out after a couple of years and Morgan refused to continue support when he realised that unaccounted "free" power would compromise his other interests. Tesla conducted some experiments, but the transmitter was never completed. The site was sold in 1915 to cover debts and the tower was finally salvaged in 1917. In the years following 1904, Tesla turned to other research, pioneering and patenting a very efficient form of turbine. The materials of the day could not stand the stresses, and it was never fully exploited. Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1917, which he reluctantly accepted on the insistence of his contemporaries. He also received numerous doctoral degrees. The rest of his life was spent in New York, living in relative obscurity. He continued to do a small amount of research and wrote magazine articles containing various revelations and predictions, such as a "death ray" which would prevent all wars, his own dynamic theory of gravity, and interplanetary communication systems. In January 1943, at age 86, he died with no will and few possessions. Five months later the US Supreme Court invalidating Marconi's wireless patent of 1900 as containing nothing which was not already in earlier patents, including a Tesla patent applied for in 1897. It is an enigma that such a pioneer in many fields, with well over 100 patents to his name, is not better known today. In most electrical engineering or radio text books he is not even mentioned, despite the fact he was a definite innovator in these areas. Nikola Tesla was an inventor and engineer, always practical, and not a mathematical theoretician. Some of his ideas have not been generally accepted by academics, and so he has not been given the recognition he truly deserves.
|
Nikola Tesla 
