“It is necessary for us to assume a universal medium for the transmission of force. This results from the necessity of explaining the action of bodies at a distance. Energy transmitted from the sun to the earth through some very attenuated medium. To show how such medium may be used under certain conditions I may refer to a feat I once accomplished of converting a column of gas into a solid body by the application of electricity in a certain manner. The gas became rigid and vibrated like a steel wire. Scientific men have not noticed the importance of this as yet. Again, I have produced a solid body in the air on the end of a wire. I made a flame which consumed nothing and which showed signs of solidification, for it offered resistance to the passage of bodies through it.”
–Nikola Tesla
“Tesla’s Visit To Chicago.”Western Electrician, May 20, 1899.
The “Egg of Columbus”is a hearsay story originating in the 16th century about the infamous Christopher Columbus and his nautical explorations into the New World. As to be expected, Columbus was met with several doubters who did not believe he would find a new trade route, despite his convincing propositions. In order to stand his ground, Columbus challenged these critics with a tactical game of sorts: if these naysayers could stand an egg upright with no outside assistance, then Columbus would agree with their claims that no new trade routes existed. After many attempts, the challengers eventually gave up. Columbus then grabbed the egg and very lightly cracked the tip of the egg and it miraculously stood independently. With this trick, Columbus was subsequently allowed to meet the queen, who thus pawned her jewels and funded his expedition. This story originated in Italy, but is a prime example of an early American folk story of motivation and inspiration, conveying that, although things seem impossible at first, anything is possible with the right skill.
In the late 1880s, Nikola Tesla, who was in dire need of funds at the time to continue to foster his scientific research and experiments, found himself in a similar situation as Columbus. Specifically on one occasion, he was at dinner with wealthy capitalists who were skeptical of his various technical propositions. Tesla’s induction motor was such a new concept that it was difficult to comprehend by the layperson, and thus challenging to obtain support by the general public. Alternating current (AC) power was not a new concept at the time; however, Tesla had discovered the “rotating magnetic field” which made AC motors significantly more efficient and was an entirely new product of commercial value. To gain these wealthy investor’s trust, Nikola Tesla asked them if they were aware of the story of “The Egg of Columbus.”
“Of course!” they remarked.
With confidence in his stature, Tesla replied, “Well, if I could outdo Columbus and stand an egg up without cracking the egg, would you give me a chance?”
“We do not have the fortune of a queen, but if you could entertain us with this we would absolutely put our investments in you.”
Tesla then invited them back to his laboratory the next day and had his equipment already configured and eagerly prepared to prove the challenge at hand. He had his new induction motor ready to execute with a wooden table set directly above it, and there was a huge copper egg in the center of the table. The men enthusiastically approached the table and Tesla confidently powered up the induction motor. Slowly, the egg began to rotate, then wobble, and as the motor sped up, the egg began to rotate perfectly on its tip. The investors laughed joyously and hugged in collective amazement.
“You have done it, Mr. Tesla!” they screamed. “We will gladly invest in your motor!”
Later in 1893, Nikola Tesla would display this motor and showcase this same experiment years later at the Chicago’s World Fair. Tesla’s “Egg of Columbus” was a visitor’s favorite. Not only would he rotate one copper egg in the magnetic field, but he would also set in motion multiple eggs of different proportions in rotations; the smaller eggs would rotate and circle around the bigger egg reminiscent of a mini solar system. This was in part how he developed his dynamic theory of gravity, a theory he would spend the rest of his life cultivating.
In 1896, Tesla’s AC system of power was put to use and powered Buffalo, NY from Niagara Falls. Today we still use Tesla’s basic system of power transmission.
“If you mean the man who really invented, in other words, originated and discovered — not merely improved what had already been invented by others, then without a shade of doubt, Nikola Tesla is the world’s greatest inventor, not only at present, but in all history.“
“Tesla has secured more than one hundred patents on inventions, many of which have proved revolutionary. Science accords to him over 75 original discoveries, not mere mechanical improvements. Tesla is an originator in the sense that Faraday was an originator. Like the latter he is a pioneer blazing the trail; aside from this he is a discoverer of the very highest order.”
“Ninety percent of the entire electrical industry pays tribute to his genius. All electrical machinery using or generating alternating current is due to Tesla. High tension current transmission without which our long distance trolley cars, our electrified lines, our subways would be impossible, are due to the genius of Tesla. The Tesla Induction Motor, the Tesla Rotary Converter, the Tesla Phase System of Power Transmission, the Tesla Steam and Gas Turbine, the Tesla Coil, and the Oscillation Transformer are perhaps his better known inventions.“
“Why the world at large does not know Tesla, it is answered best by stating that he has committed the unpardonable crime of not having a permanent press agent to shout his greatness from the housetops. Then, too, most of Tesla’s inventions, at least to the public mind, are more or less intangible on account of the fact that they are very technical and, therefore, do not catch the popular imagination, as, for instance, wireless, the X-ray, the airplane, or the telephone.”
”NIKOLA TESLA, in the opinion of authorities, today is conceded to be the greatest inventor of all times. Tesla has more original inventions to his credit than any other man in history. He is considered greater than Archimedes, Faraday, or Edison. His basic, as well as revolutionary, discoveries for sheer audacity have no equal in the annals of the world. His master mind is easily one of the seven wonders of the intellectual world.”
–Hugo Gernsback
“Nikola Tesla and His Inventions — An Announcement.” Electrical Experimenter, January, 1919.
(Hugo was an inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best known for publications including the first science fiction magazine.)
“It may not be generally known that in my papers published in the Electric Review of New York from 1896 to 1897, long before the discovery of radium by Madame Curie [1898], I demonstrated the existence and describe the salient properties of emanations of the same nature. My views were received with skepticism at that time, but I am glad to say that now they are adopted in their entirety. I see no reason for changing the opinions I then expressed. The so-called radium imitations are not an isolated phenomenon, but are universal. There is, according to my ideas, no such element as radium or polonium, although spectral analysis, the theory of Mendenleff, and various experimental observations, support this modern view. I believe, that as to this, scientific opinions is in error, as it was a century ago, in assuming that there was such a substance as phlogiston concerned in combustion until Lavoisier discovered oxygen. Similarly the radium manifestations are, in all probability, due to the action of a universal medium on certain volatile substances. Much of the speculation based on Madame Curie’s discovery is necessarily erroneous, being in direct contradiction to well established principles. The claims of some enthusiasts that in radium lies the possibility of future power development are nothing but a dream. But the sole fact is that we are in the presence of new and wonderful effects of the study of which is leading us gradually to a better and deeper understanding of the mechanism of the universe.”
–Nikola Tesla
“Nikola Tesla Talks Of The Future Of The Greatest Problems Now Confronting The Scientific World.” By E. Leslie Gilliams. New York Press, March 2, 1913.
When Nikola Tesla first displayed his idea of remote control to the public in 1898, they all thought he was some kind of crazy magician who trained a small monkey to drive the boat hidden inside .
A Method of transformation of electrical energy by oscillatory condenser discharges. It was predicted by Tesla that this apparatus afforded vast possibilities and would play an important part in the future.
“This type of apparatus is identified with my name as certain as the law of gravitation is with that of Newton. I know that some have claimed that Professor Thomson also invented the so-called Tesla coil, but those feeble chirps ne'er went beyond Swampscott. Professor Thomson is an odd sort of man; very ingenious, but he never was a wireless expert; he never could be. Moreover, it is important to realize that this principle is universally employed everywhere. The greatest men of science have told me that this was my best achievement and, in connection with this apparatus I may say that a lot of liberties have been taken. For instance, a man fills this space [break D] with hydrogen; he employs all my instrumentalities, everything that is necessary, but calls it a new wireless system – the Poulsen arc. I cannot stop it. Another man puts in here [referring to space between self-inductive lines L L] a kind of gap – he gets a Nobel prize for doing it. My name is not mentioned. Still another man inserts here [conductor B] a mercury[-arc] rectifier. That is my friend Cooper Hewitt. But, as a matter of fact, those devices have nothing to do with the performance.
“If these men knew what I do, they would not touch my arrangements; they would leave my apparatus as it is. Marconi puts in here [break D] two wheels. I showed only one wheel; he shows two. And he says, “See what happens when the wheels are rotated; a wonderful thing happens!” What is the wonderful thing? Why, when the teeth of the wheels pass one another, the currents are broken and interrupted. That is the wonderful thing that happens? The Lord himself could not make anything else happen unless he broke his own laws. So, in this way, invention has been degraded, debased, prostituted, more in connection with my apparatus than in anything else. Not a vestige of invention as a creative effort is in the thousands of arrangements that you see under the name of other people – not a vestige of invention. It is exactly like in car couplings on which 6,000 patents have been taken out; but all the couplings are constructed and operated exactly the same way. The inventive effort involved is about the same as that of which a 30-year-old mule is capable. This is a fact.
“This is one of the most beautiful things ever produced in the way of apparatus: I take a generator of any kind. With the generator I charge a condensing. Then I discharged to condenser under conditions which result in the production of vibrations. Now, it was no sense Lord Kelvin that the condenser this charge would give this vibration, but I perfected my apparatus to such a degree that it became an instrument utilizable in the arts, In a much broader way than Lord Kelvin had contemplated as possible. In fact, years afterwards when Lord Kelvin honored me by presenting to the British Association one of my oscillators of a perfected form, he said that it was “a wonderful development and destined to be of great importance.”
–Nikola Tesla
(Tesla explaining his wireless art in a pre-hearing interview with his legal counsel in 1916 to protect his radio patents from the Guglielmo Marconi and the Marconi Company.)
“Nikola Tesla On His Works With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, and Transmission of Power.” Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, Colorado, 2002.
“Here is the schematic drawing of the Tesla Transformer with its elevated capacitance and propagating into the Earth. Tesla uses the analogy here of having a large balloon with a hand pump putting pressure waves in and out of the balloon and little pressure gauges all around the planet indicating receiving instruments. And of course, the pointers on the pressure gauges all dance up and down in perfect correspondence with the hand pump. And then of course, we have here the Wardenclyffe Tower attached to the Earth doing the same thing electrically, pumping dielectric energy in and out of the Earth which is captured by small receiving apparatus that take this dielectric induction and convert it back into electrical induction.”
Aged 35 (and a half) Tesla delivered a talk here at the Ri on AC power that was so spectacular, audiences flocked back the next night for an encore.
We love a science demonstration, and judging by his sprawling lecture desk, so did Tesla…
120 years after Tesla stood in the Faraday theatre (in 1892) we recreated a demonstration of his Tesla coil in the 2012 Christmas Lectures: https://youtu.be/5piP_qfDvBA?t=4s
How to Diet and Exercise Like the Genius Inventor Nikola Tesla
By Paul Ratner
The inventor Nikola Tesla had one of the most creative and prolific brains humanity has ever produced. He kept working on ingenious projects well into the late years of his life, staying energetic and focused (albeit leading a somewhat ascetic, asexual and aloof life). How did Tesla keep sharp and achieve so much? In a 1933 interview, the 77 year-old Tesla spoke about what kept him going in life.
He believed that it was important to get a good start in life, developing healthy personal habits even as young people -
In a pre-hearing interview with his legal counsel in 1916 to protect his radio patents from Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla explains the similarities and the differences between his wireless system and the systems of today.
Counsel: “Mr. Tesla, at that point, what did you mean by electro-magnetic momentum?”
Tesla: “I mean that you have to have in the circuit, inertia. You have to have a large self-inductance in order that you may accomplish two things: First, a comparatively low frequency, which will reduce the radiation of the electromagnetic waves to a comparatively small value, and second, a great resonant effect. That is not possible in an antenna, for instance, of large capacity and small self-inductance. A large capacity and small self-inductance is the poorest kind of circuit which can be constructed; it gives a very small resonant effect. That was the reason why in my experiments in Colorado, the energies were 1,000 times greater than in the present antennae.”
Counsel: “You say the energy was 1,000 times greater. Do you mean that the voltage was increased, or the current, or both?”
Tesla: “Yes [both]. To be more explicit, I take a very large self-inductance and a comparatively small capacity, which I have constructed in a certain way so that the electricity cannot leak out. I thus obtain a low frequency, but, as you know, the electromagnetic radiation is proportionate to the square root of the capacity divided by the self-induction. I do not permit the energy to go out; I accumulate in that circuit a tremendous energy. When the high potential is attained, if I want to give off electromagnetic waves, I do so, but I prefer to reduce those waves in quantity and pass a current into the earth, because electromagnetic wave energy is not recoverable while that [earth] current is entirely recoverable, being the energy stored in an elastic system.”
Counsel: “What elastic system do you refer to?”
Tesla: “I mean this: If you pass a current into a circuit with large self-induction, and no radiation takes place, and you have a low resistance, there is no possibility of this energy getting out into space; therefore, the impressed impulses accumulate.”
Counsel: “Let’s see if I understand this correctly. If you have radiation or electromagnetic waves going from your system, the energy is wasted?”
Tesla: “Absolutely wasted. From my circuit, you can get either electromagnetic waves, 90 percent of electromagnetic waves if you like, and 10 percent in the current energy that passes through the earth. Or, you can reverse the process and get 10 percent of the energy in electromagnetic waves and 90 percent in energy of the current that passes through the earth.”
“It is just like this: I have invented a knife. The knife can cut with the sharp edge. I tell the man who applies my invention; you must cut with the sharp edge. I know perfectly well you can cut butter with the blunt edge, but my knife is not intended for this. You must not make the antenna give off 90 percent in electromagnetic and 10 percent in current waves, because the electromagnetic waves are lost by the time you are a few arcs around the planet, while the current travels to the uttermost distance of the globe and can be recovered.
"This view, by the way, is now confirmed. Note, for instance, the mathematical treatise of Sommerfeld, who shows that my theory is correct, that I was right in my explanations of the phenomena, and that the profession was completely misled. This is the reason why these followers of mine in high-frequency currents have made a mistake. They wanted to make high-frequency alternators of 200,000 cycles with the idea that they would produce electromagnetic waves, 90 percent in electromagnetic waves, and the rest in current energy. I only used low alternations, and I produced 90 percent in current energy and only 10 percent in electromagnetic waves, which are wasted, and that is why I got my results. You see, the apparatus which I have devised was an apparatus enabling one to produce tremendous differences of potential and currents in an antenna circuit. These requirements must be fulfilled, whether you transmit by currents of conduction or whether you transmit by electromagnetic waves. You want high potential currents; you want a great amount of vibratory energy, but you can graduate this vibratory energy. By proper design and choice of wave lengths, you can arrange it so that you get, for instance, 5 percent in these electromagnetic waves and 95 percent in the current that goes through the earth. That is what I am doing. Or you can get, as these radio men, 95 percent in the energy of electromagnetic waves and only 5 percent in the energy of the current. The apparatus is suitable for one or the other method. I am not producing radiation with my system; I am suppressing electromagnetic waves. In my system, you should free yourself of the idea that there is radiation, that the energy is radiated. It is not radiated; it is conserved…”
(“Nikola Tesla On His Works With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, and Transmission of Power.” Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, Colorado, 2002.)
Nikola Tesla is still taking us to school over 100 years later!!!!
The discovery of X-rays is credited to German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen for first detecting the electromagnetic radiations by accident in his 1895 experiments where he was testing whether cathode rays could pass through glass. Not many know this, but Nikola Tesla was experimenting in the same field prior to Roentgen and published his experimental results in numerous scientific periodicals during the early 1890s. Since these rays were still unknown Tesla used the term “radiant matter" to describe these radiations. Tesla produced some of the first X-ray imaging, which he called “shadowgraphs,” but his laboratory caught fire on March 13, 1895, and Tesla would lose everything including all photos and paperwork.
He would later give all credit to Rontgen for the discovery, and throughout the next few years produced some of the best X-ray images that even Roentgen praised. Tesla would also be the first scientist to warn the scientific community about the harms of X-rays, and designed methods to use them correctly.
Edison on the other hand thought X-rays had healing properties and his assistant lost his arms because of the fool.
The Mechanistic Theory of Life is a philosophical perspective assuming that the entire universe is determined by causation and the laws of physics, and therefore, can be fully explained using mechanical principles. Nikola Tesla held a firm belief that every living organism is devoid of free will, and is compelled by an infinitude of external influences prompting them into action. According to Tesla, humans, although being more complex than most organisms, are all similar in nature. Any thought humans may conceive and every act they perform from conception to death are governed by external effects. Before we get into Tesla’s philosophy, I will briefly go over who and what influenced him to subscribe to this paradigm.
In the seventeenth century, a physician by the name of William Harvey laid the groundwork to the Mechanistic Theory of Life. Harvey is best known for his contributions to the science of anatomy and physiology. He was the first to correctly explain the circulation of the blood in the human body and provided experiments to prove his arguments. Harvey recognized that the heart and arteries acted like a pump and were subject to limitations like any other mechanical pump. Harvey provided evidence that the human organism operated like a machine that functioned just like any other machine made by humans. Although his work was not focused on a philosophical theory of life, the benefaction of his discovery placed him among those who altered the entire perspective and approach to the theory of life.
Alongside Harvey, the great philosopher Rene Descartes also contributed to this mechanistic train of thought. With the contribution of Harvey’s work, Descartes envisioned all life as simply automata incapable of actions other than those executed by a machine. It was his philosophy that opened up a whole new perspective and conversation about the nature of humankind–humans as machines. A new belief that all organic actions in life arose, based on the disposition of sensory organs simply reacting to the environment. Descartes’ work would promote dualism, which portrays mind and body as separate from each other (a belief Tesla wouldn’t subscribe to), and his ideas would dominate European thought for years to come. This would create two polarizing belief systems—free will versus determinism. With Descartes’ influence, the science of anatomy and botany would be changed tremendously.
The Darwinian Revolution followed next, which had a great effect on Nikola Tesla’s philosophy, but it was Herbert Spencer’s work who influenced him the most. Spencer was the first to coin the term, “survival of the fittest,” which coincided with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Both Spencer and Darwin put forth a hypothesis for the theory of evolution of organisms. In his Principles of Psychology, Herbert Spencer said, “to be conscious is to think; to think is to form conceptions—to put together impressions and ideas; and to do this, is to be the subject of internal changes. It is admitted on all hands that without change, consciousness is impossible.”
In 1893, in a lecture given before the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Spencer’s and Descartes’ words would echo in the auditorium as Tesla presented his idea of the human being:
“What is the foundation of all philosophical systems of ancient and modern times, in fact, of all the philosophy of men? I am I think; I think, therefore I am. But how could I think and how would I know that I exist, if I had not the eye? For knowledge involves consciousness; consciousness involves ideas, conceptions; conceptions involve pictures or images, and images the sense of vision, and therefore the organ of sight. But how about blind men, will be asked? Yes, a blind man may depict in magnificent poems, forms and scenes from real life, from a world he physically does not see. A blind man may touch the keys of an instrument with unerring precision, may model the fastest boat, may discover and invent, calculate and construct, may do still greater wonders—but all the blind men who have done such things have descended from those who had seeing eyes… but sometime or other, during the process of evolution, the eye certainly must have existed, else thought, as we understand it, would be impossible; else conceptions, like spirit, intellect, mind, call it as you may, could not exist.”
According to Tesla, the philosophers and scientists of the past were in the dark with their hypotheses and experiments, and since their time, many functions of the branches of science have evolved significantly. He believed that the human being is simply a self-propelled biological machine, whose actions (similar to the rest of the universe) can only be governed by external influences.
In order to prove this theory further, Tesla set out to invent a mechanical device similar to the human body, with sensitive organs that react to external influences (inspired by Herbert Spencer and his work on the nerves in the human body). These organs would be receivers which react to electrical waves sent from a transmitting device; propelling the machine into motion. This device would then lead to the invention of Tesla’s remote controlled boat which would be the basis to all wirelessly controlled devices today (e.g. T.V. remotes, drones, vehicle starters, robots, satellites, etc.).
In an article titled “How Cosmic Forces Determine Our Destinies,”(1915) Tesla would go into meticulous detail describing his Mechanistic Theory of Life. In his article, and in his own words, he came to five conclusions:
The human being is a self-propelled machine entirely under the control of external influences. Though free-will might appear so, the actions of humans are governed not from within, but from without. He is like an empty bottle tossed in the ocean.
There is no memory bank. What we designate as memory is but increased responsiveness to repeated stimuli.
Descartes was wrong, there is no stored knowledge in the brain. Memory is something akin to an echo that needs to reflect on something to be called into being.
All knowledge, memory, or form conception is exposed to the eye externally, either in situations the human is conscious of, or situations they are not aware of.
Contrary to the most important tenet of Cartesian philosophy that the perceptions of the mind are illusionary, the eye transmits to it the true and accurate likeness of external things. This is because light propagates in straight lines and the image cast on the retina is an exact reproduction of the external form and one which, owing to the mechanism of the optic nerve, can not be distorted in the transmission to the brain. What is more, the process must be reversible, that is to say, a form brought to consciousness can, by reflex action, reproduce the original image on the retina just as an echo can reproduce the original disturbance If this view is borne out by experiment an immense revolution in all human relations and departments of activity will be the consequence.
In summary, Tesla illustrated a strong stance on how natural forces influence humans. He portrayed how earth rotates at a velocity of 1,520 feet per second, and is carried through space at a speed around the sun–19 miles per second; the kinetic energy imparted is over 25,160,000,000 foot pounds (a “foot pound” translates to a force of energy equal to the amount required to raise 1 pound a distance of 1 foot). Therefore, the kinetic energy stored in our bodies relative to this motion should calculate to nearly 6,000,000 foot pounds. The centrifugal force would range to about .55 of a pound. Since the sun is 332,000 times larger than earth and is 23,000 times further away, the gravitational effect on humans should be about .1 of a pound. This weight constantly changes with different positions of the earth and the sun. He then explains that, “the circumference of the earth has a speed of 1,520 feet per second, which is either added to or subtracted from the translator velocity of nineteen miles through space. Owing to this the energy will vary from twelve to twelve hours by an amount approximately equal to 1,533,000,000 foot pounds, which means that energy streams in some unknown way into and out of the body of the automaton at the rate of about sixty-four horse-power.” To further his point, Tesla went on to detail how the whole solar system is urged towards the Hercules constellation, and this too has major effects on the human translating simply as local cosmic disturbances. He would then explain the effects of the human on earth, including static electricity effects from the earth, atmospheric pressure (a force of 16 tons), the sun’s heat, sounds from the surrounding environment, temperature changes due to seasonal weather conditions, sleep routines based off day and night, and many other external changes in the environment humans are unconsciously accustomed to.
Based on other notions later in Tesla’s life, he believed humans are also unaware that they are affected by a shower of cosmic rays constantly shooting through their bodies, night and day, at the speed of light. Tesla would poetically say, “Like a float on a turbulent sea, swayed by external influences, he moves and acts. The average person is not aware of this constant dependence on his environment; but a trained observer has no difficulty in locating the primary disturbance which prompts him into action, and continued exercise soon satisfies him that virtually all of his purely mechanical motions are caused by visual impressions, directly or indirectly received.” (“Tesla’s Tidal Wave to Make War Impossible.” New York World, April 21, 1907.)
According to Tesla, humans are completely ignorant to the constant dependency on their environment. He believed that if humankind’s power of observation were more precise, they could recognize that they live in the illusion of perfect choice and freedom in their thoughts and actions. They could recognize and locate the external influences promoting them into motion, soon they would realize that all their actions are purely mechanical motions caused by visual impressions, directly or indirectly received through their sensory organs. To Tesla, the universe was simply a marvelous machine, infinite in nature (a nature which humans could never comprehend with their finite minds). He was raised as a Christian (entangled with Hinduism and Buddhism), but was also a scientist at heart. To him, discovering the workings and the complete picture of the universe was a scientist’s ultimate goal and purpose.
“There is no conflict between the ideal of religion and the ideal of science, but science is opposed to theological dogmas because science is founded on fact. To me, the universe is simply a great machine which never came into being and never will end. The human being is no exception to the natural order. Man, like the universe, is a machine. Nothing enters our minds or determines our actions which is not directly or indirectly a response to stimuli beating upon our sense organs from without. Owing to the similarity of our construction and the sameness of our environment, we respond in like manner to similar stimuli, and from the concordance of our reactions, understanding is born. In the course of ages, mechanisms of infinite complexity are developed, but what we call “soul” or “spirit,” is nothing more than the sum of the functionings of the body. When this functioning ceases, the “soul” or the “spirit” ceases likewise.—Nikola Tesla, (“A Machine to End War.” Liberty Magazine, February, 1937.)
Tesla would conclude later in his life that there is no randomness that occurs in nature. No matter how complex life seems, all the universe is linked and all can be explained using a mathematical formula. He trained himself throughout his whole life to trace the external influences which regulated his life, leading him to deny the existence of individuality, and viewed the universe as a singular entity:
“We are just waves in time and space, changing continuously, and the illusion of individuality is produced through the concatenation of the rapidly succeeding phases of existence. What we define as likeness is merely the result of the symmetrical arrangement of molecules which compose our body…there is no soul or spirit. These are merely expressions of the functions of the body. These life functions cease with death and so do soul and spirit. What humanity needs is ideals. Idealism is the force that will free us from material fetters.”—Nikola Tesla (“Tesla Seeks to Send Power to Planets.” New York Times, July 11, 1931.)
“More than 25 years ago I began my efforts to harness the cosmic rays and I can now state that I have succeeded in operating a motive device by means of them.”—Nikola Tesla (“Tesla’s Cosmic Motor May Transmit Power Round Earth”, Brooklyn Eagle, July 10, 1932.)
Cosmic rays are defined as highly electrified particles that originate from the sun, other stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and from other galaxies which constantly invade Earth. They became popular in 1912 when Victor Hess piloted a balloon with electroscopes to detect the presence of the electric charges in the atmosphere. Cosmic rays are still a mystery today, but it is generally not known that Nikola Tesla was actually the first to discover these mysterious radiations.
Nikola Tesla’s cosmic ray discovery was one of his crowning achievements throughout his work in experimental science, the result of over 40 years of investigations, research, and inventions. This discovery would designate Tesla the forefront leader in developing machinery operating from a new source of power available everywhere at any location on Earth.
Starting in 1894, Nikola Tesla began experimenting with x-rays, and alongside Wilhelm Roentgen, was the first to produce some of the first x-ray images. In 1896, Tesla’s experiments based on these newly discovered rays confirmed that Alessandro Volta’s contact theory of electricity was correct - that an electrical current is produced when two different metals become in contact with one another. Tesla directed these rays toward many different materials, such as sodium, magnesium, lead, tin, iron, copper, silver, gold, and platinum, and found platinum to be the poorest reflector of these rays while sodium one of the best. In conducting these experiments, Tesla came to the following conclusions:
Highly exhausted cathodic bulbs used in x-ray imaging emit material streams which are reflected from metallic surfaces;
These streams are formed of matter in some primary or elementary condition;
The streams are likely the same agent which is the cause of the electromotive tension between metals in close proximity;
Every metal or conductor is more or less a source of such streams;
These streams must be produced by some radiations which exist in the medium;
Streams resembling the cathodic emissions must be emitted by the sun, and also by other sources of radiant energy.
He considered each of his conclusions to be incontrovertible, and with these results, Tesla would become the first scientist to successfully theorize the existence of the cosmic ray.
Believing that there is a continuous supply of such radiations in the medium, Tesla worked tirelessly to prove his theory. Since his conclusions indicated that the streams are composed of primary particles which must come from the sun, Tesla suggested that these particles travel at very high velocities, and are broken into smaller particles by impact against other materials on earth. His analogy was that of a bullet being shot at a wall (the bullet representing the cosmic rays and the wall acting as an object on earth). When the bullet strikes the wall, it is crushed and shatters in all directions radial to where it hit the wall. According to Tesla, the energy from the flying particles can only come from that of the bullets, and the results will differ based on the density of the wall and the velocity of the bullets.
This is an important point in Tesla’s discovery. Right around the time of these experiments (1898), radioactivity was being discovered by Marie Curie. Based on Curie’s discoveries, Tesla realized it was cosmic rays that are the cause of radioactivity on earth. Just like his analogy above states, it was not the elements on earth that are radioactive from inside as Curie hypothesized; rather, the radioactivity was due to cosmic rays coming in contact with the elements and breaking into smaller particles.
In 1899, in order to make his experiments more precise and further prove his cosmic radioactivity theory , Tesla developed a more intricate method that eliminated the limitations and incertitude of the electroscope popularly used by other scientists during this time. He used two conductors and connected them to terminals of a capacitor which had a considerable electrostatic captivity. One conductor was an insulated metal plate exposed to the sun and other radiations, and the other was a grounded capacitor (e.g. a supply of negative electricity). Essentially, the cosmic rays ionize the air, setting free many electrical charges—ions and electrons. When the cosmic rays impinge against the metal plate connected to one terminal of a capacitor - while the other terminal of the capacitor is grounded to a negatively charged earth - a current flows into the capacitor as long as the insulated body is exposed to the radiation. Therefore, an accumulation of electrical energy in the capacitor takes place. This energy can then be utilized for power purposes. He filed a patent based on these results titled, “Apparatus of the Utilization of Radiant Energy,” published in 1901. This concept is a precursor to today’s concept of solar panels, but more advanced in that it operates utilizing cosmic radiation and not just the sun’s light.
With this apparatus and associated experiments and observations, Tesla confirmed his cosmic ray theory–that sources of radiant energy (such as the sun) throw off with great velocity minute particles of matter, some even traveling faster than light. These particles are strongly electrified and are, therefore, capable of charging an electrical conductor (and may also conversely discharge an electrified conductor). In further experiments, Tesla noticed with his apparatus that the sun, in whatever position it may be in the sky, cut off the radiations from beyond and replaced them with its own. As a result of his measurements, cosmic ray velocities from the star Antareswere found to travel fifty times greater than the speed of light.
Tesla would continue research in this field, but spent most of his time dedicated to his worldwide wireless system which he deemed far more important. In his later years, when the notion of the cosmic ray again started to gain popularity, he would return to provide his invaluable insight based on his extensive research and previous experiments. . For example, he would be the first to assume that the cosmic ray gives rise to a secondary radiation by impact against the cosmic dust scattered through space, originating from all directions. In 1932, Tesla would give a mathematical explanation of the intensity of cosmic rays in relation to the elevation from earth in an article titled “The External Source of Energy of the Universe, Origin and Intensity of Cosmic Rays.” The formula is below, in Tesla’s own words:
“I = (W+P) / (W+p)”
“In this expression W is the weight in kilograms of a column of lead of one square centimeter cross section and one hundred and eighty centimeters length, P the normal pressure of the atmosphere at sea level in kilograms per square centimeter, p the atmospheric pressure at the altitude under consideration and in like measure and I the intensity of the radiation in terms of that at sea level which is taken as unit. Substituting the actual values for W and P, respectively 1.9809 and 1.0133 kilograms, the formula reduces to:
I = 2.99421 / (1.9809 + p)
Obviously, at sea level p = P hence the intensity is equal to 1, this being the unit of measurement. On the other hand, at the extreme limit of the atmosphere p = 0 and the intensity I = 1.5115.
The maximum increase with height is, consequently, a little over fifty-one percent. This formula, based on my finding that the absorption is proportionate to the density of the medium whatever it be, is fairly accurate. Other investigators might find different values for W but they will undoubtedly observe the same character of dependence, namely, that the intensity increases proportionately to the height for a few kilometers and then at a gradually lessening rate.”
Based on Tesla’s extensive research, many calculations, and several years of thorough experiments, Tesla came to the following conclusions:
The intensity of the cosmic rays must be greatest at the zenith of the atmosphere;
The intensity should increase more and more rapidly up to an elevation of approximately 20 kilometers where the conducting air stratum begins;
From that point on, the intensity should decrease; first slowly and then more rapidly, to an insignificant value at an altitude of about 30 kilometers;
The display of high potential must occur on the free end of the terrestrial wire, that is to say, on the area furthest from the sun - the darkest side of earth. The current from this part of the planet is supplied at a pressure of about 216 billion volts and there is a difference of 2 billion volts between the illuminated and the dark side of the globe. The energy of this current is so great that it readily accounts for the aurora and other phenomena observed in the atmosphere and at the earth’s surface.
With such convincing results, Nikola Tesla was clearly one of the foremost leaders in cosmic ray discovery and theory and was, without a doubt, ahead of his time:
“The greatest mistake made is the appraisal of the energy of cosmic rays. In most cases the ionizing action is used as a criterion, which is useless, for the most powerful cosmic rays virtually do not ionize at all and leave no trace of their passage through the instrument. I have resorted to different means and methods and have found that the energy of the cosmic radiations impinging upon the earth from all sides is stupendous, such that if all of it were converted into heat the globe quickly would be melted and volatilized.
Since expressing, in 1896, my ideas on the origin and character of cosmic rays and of the cause of radioactivity, all my views have been confirmed by my own findings and those of others, while the numerous theories advanced have been proved false or inadequate. Those who are still doubting that our sun emits powerful cosmic rays evidently overlook that the solar disk, in whatever position it may be in the heavens, cuts off the radiations from beyond, replacing them by its own.
“As the radiations from the sun are only a little more intense than those coming from other directions, the lack of pronounced differentiation has deceived the observers. Regarding radio-activity, it occurs exactly as required by my theory. The radio-active emanations from the globe are secondary effects of external rays and two-fold - one part coming from the energy stored, the other from that continuously supplied.” –Nikola Tesla (“Expanding Sun Will Explode Some Day Tesla Predicts.” New York Herald Tribune, August 18, 1935.)
The ether is considered a universal medium consisting of a primary substance, attenuated beyond conception, which fills all space and connects all matter. This medium, or field of force, is responsible for action at a distance—a concept where an object can interact with other objects even though they are separated in space. This idea still baffles today’s physicists, but was understood by Nikola Tesla long before Albert Einstein coined his “spooky action at a distance”.
Before I get into Tesla’s explanation of the ether, I must first recall the famous 1887 Michelson-Morley experiment, because I know some readers will immediately bring it up. The experiment was intended to detect the ether using light beams and mirrors to record the speed of light through the ether relative to the Earth’s movement around the Sun; however, the two scientists failed to detect the ether and it became one of the most famous failed experiments in history. Surprisingly though, the experimenters did not account for the fact that the speed of light was relative to the observer moving with the apparatus, which led to the null effect. What it did, rather, was prove that the average velocity of light for a round trip between a beam splitter and a mirror was independent of motion through space. Either way, physicists agreed that by its nature, the ether cannot be detected and it is unnecessary for explaining how light travels through space.
It was Heinrich Hertz, who during the same time as the Michelson-Morley experiment, demonstrated the notion of action at a distance proving the existence of electromagnetic waves first predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864. Since these waves travel across space, there must be a medium carrying the waves. Like Maxwell, Hertz postulated that ether was structureless beyond conception, and yet solid and possessed a rigidity incomparably greater than the hardest steel. Electromagnetic waves were then believed to be transverse waves (waves that vibrate at ninety degrees angles).
In the early 1890s, Nikola Tesla repeated Hertz’s experiments with a much improved and a far more powerful apparatus, coming to the conclusion that what Hertz observed were longitudinal waves in a gaseous medium propagated by alternate compression and expansion. After discovering these results, Tesla declared that light, and other electromagnetic waves, are not transverse waves (a theory still believed today in conventional physics), but instead are a longitudinal disturbance in the ether involving alternate compressions and rarefactions. In his own words, “light can be nothing else than a sound wave in the ether. Since light has such a constancy of velocity, light can only be explained by assuming that it is dependent solely on the physical properties of the medium, especially density and elastic force.” It wasn’t until after Nikola Tesla met with Hertz and explained his results that Hertz then changed his views on the ether and accepted that it was a gaseous medium rather than a stationary one.
Believing that the ether was one of the most important results of modern scientific research, Tesla refused to abandon it because in his mind the ether was an important key to understanding how electrical energy could travel through space without wires. He displayed this phenomenon in numerous experiments and lectures throughout the 1890s.
It wasn’t until 1896 when Tesla finally obtained experimental proof of the ether. He invented a new form of vacuum tube which could be charged to any high potential and operated with pressures up to 4,000,000 volts. In 1929, Tesla spoke of these vacuum tubes saying, “One of the first striking observations made with my tubes was that a purplish glow for several feet around the end of the tube was formed, and I readily ascertained that it was due to the escape of the charges of the particles as soon as they passed out into the air; for it was only in a nearly perfect vacuum that these charges could be confined to them. The coronal discharge proved that there must be a medium besides air in the space, composed of particles immeasurably smaller than those of air, as otherwise such a discharge would not be possible. On further investigation I found that this gas was so light that a volume equal to that of the earth would weigh only about one-twentieth of a pound.”
To explain the density of the ether, Tesla referred to William Thomson’s equations. In 1932, Tesla said, “Its density has been first estimated by Lord Kelvin and conformably to his finding a column of one square centimeter cross section and of a length such that light, traveling at a rate of three hundred thousand kilometers per second, would require one year to transverse it, should weigh 4.8 grams. This is just about the weight of a prism of ordinary glass of the same cross section and two centimeters length which, therefore, may be assumed as the equivalent of the ether column in absorption. A column of the ether one thousand times longer would thus absorb as much light as twenty meters of glass. However, there are suns at distances of many thousands of light years and it is evident that virtually no light from them can reach the earth. But if these suns emit rays immensely more penetrative than those of light they will be slightly dimmed and so the aggregate amount of radiations pouring upon the earth from all sides will be overwhelmingly greater than that supplied to it by our luminary. If light and heat rays would be as penetrative as the cosmic, so fierce would be the perpetual glare and so scorching the heat that life on this and other planets could not exist.”
According to Nikola Tesla’s ether theory, all matter in the universe is metamorphous from the ether. When the ether is set in motion, it becomes gross matter. All matter, then, is merely ether in motion. In 1900, Tesla said, “By being set in movement, ether becomes matter perceptible to our senses; the movement arrested, the primary substance reverts to its normal state and becomes imperceptible. If this theory of the constitution of matter is not merely a beautiful conception, which in its essence is contained in the old philosophy of the Vedas, but a physical truth, then if the ether whirl or atom be shattered by impact or slowed down and arrested by cold, any material, whatever it be, would vanish into seeming nothingness, and, conversely, if the ether be set in movement by some force, matter would again form. Thus, by the help of a refrigerating machine or other means for arresting ether movement and an electrical or other force of great intensity for forming ether whirls, it appears possible for man to annihilate or to create at his will all we are able to perceive by our tactile sense.”
In summary, Tesla experimented, and proved his theories using the scientific method. His methods were far more superior to other physicists of his time, because he had the motors and transformers invented by himself to help with his experiments. These include the induction motor, his Telsa coil, and many more apparatuses. In the future the ether may be referred to as dark matter, the force etc., but Nikola Tesla’s ether theory will surely be proven true in years to come.
Nikola Tesla believed the government should be regulated, and individual liberties preserved. He recognized that by expanding the power of the government individual rights would vanish, and the government would completely take control over everything in our lives. He once said, “The individual will not be permitted to achieve great wealth and power; his privacy will be invaded in a thousand ways. He will be restricted in his efforts in every direction–will virtually disappear in the wave of collectivism which will sweep the world.”
Tesla was a Democrat of his time, but not in the sense of today’s terms. Not a lot of people (especially Americans) know that the Democrats and the Republicans used to share opposite views as they do today—meaning the Democrats used to want smaller governmental power, and the Republicans wanted to expand federal power. In the late 1930s it flipped. As a result, today the Republicans typically want smaller governmental power, and the Democrats want more.
So why did it flip?
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president in the 1930s who originally ran on the Democrat ideology (small government). Tesla backed Roosevelt, but FDR began passing his “New Deal” programs. These programs were a set of reforms including the founding of social security, welfare, pension programs, infrastructure development, regulation of financial institutions, and much more. They were enacted to help relieve America from the great depression. Tesla believed America should not expand federal power, and in a letter to J.P. Morgan Jr. criticized FDR saying, “the democratic principles are forsaken and individual liberty and incentives are made a joke. The “New Deal” is a perpetual motion scheme which can never work but is given a semblance of operativeness by unceasing supply of the peoples capital. Most of the measures adopted are a bid for votes and some are destructive to established industries and decidedly socialistic. The next step might be the distribution of wealth by excessive taxing if not conscription.” Tesla is right. FDR raised income taxes, and ran a campaign to “soak the rich”, but the rich found loopholes, and the working class paid for these tax increases. It’s not much different today. Also, World War II began during this time and FDR signed a conscription act.
Tesla was then a Democrat, but after FDR started these programs, he began supporting Alfred Landon of the Republican party.
Tesla believed that these socialistic tendencies would drive America to a gross state of dependency, and not long would be comparable to the social system of the bees. He says, “This materialistic tide can only be stemmed by idealism, which is a force tending to free what we call the soul of man from physical fetters. But although there might be periods of alternating dominance of these two principles–materialism and idealism–ultimately the materialistic tendencies will become dominating.”
NIKOLA TESLA TOOK 250,000 VOLTS OF ELECTRICITY THROUGH HIS OWN BODY TO FIGHT EDISON’S SMEAR CAMPAIGN AGAINST HIS ALTERNATING CURRENT
In Philadelphia, before a large gathering, Nikola Tesla passed a quarter of a million volts of electricity through his body. In 1894, Tesla told an interviewer from The World newspaper about his experience.
“I did at first feel apprehensive. I had reasoned the thing out absolutely, nevertheless there is always a certain doubt about the practical demonstration of a perfectly satisfactory theory. My idea of letting this current go through me was to demonstrate conclusively the folly of popular impressions concerning the alternating current. The experiment had no value for scientific men. A great deal of nonsense is talked and believed about ‘volts.’ A million volts would not kill you or hurt you if the current vibrated quickly enough — say half a million times to the second. Under such conditions the nerves wouldn’t respond quickly enough to feel pain.”
“You see, voltage has nothing to do with the size and power of the current. It is simply the calculation of the force applied at a given point. It corresponds to the actual pressure per square inch at the end of a water pipe, whether the volume of the water be great or small. A million volts going through you doesn’t mean much under proper conditions. Imagine a needle so small that the hole it would make in going through your body would not allow the blood to escape. Imagine it so small that you couldn’t even feel it. If you had it put through your arm slowly, that would be, electrically speaking, a very small voltage. If you had it stuck through your arm with great rapidity, going, say, at the rate of a hundred miles a second, that would be very high voltage. Voltage is speed, pressure at a given point. It wouldn’t do you any more harm to have a needle shot through your arm very rapidly — that is to say, with high voltage — than it would to put it through slowly. In fact, if it hurt you at all, the slow operation would probably hurt more than the other. The question of danger is simply the size of current, and yet if a big enough current should be turned against you and broken with sufficient rapidity — if it should, so to speak, jerk back and forth an inconceivable number of times to the second — it wouldn’t kill you. Whereas if applied continuously, it would simply burn you up.”
