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Home , Prodigal Genius, Wardenclyffe Tower

Nikola : Genius, Visionary, and Eccentric

JEFF JOHNSON

n the past decade or so, obtained a letter of intro- I (1856- duction to Edison and 1943) has become a immigrated to New name to conjure York. He worked for with—at least within Edison for about a year the subculture of before having some that American phe- kind of falling out. The nomenon: the Inven- standard story is that tor. Few people today Edison told Tesla it recognize his name, would be worth although in the his- $50,000 to him if he tory of electrical could improve Edi- technology it is as im- son's electric generators portant as Thomas significantly. Tesla did Edison's. Even Tesla's this and then asked Edison admirers don't seem to for his money. "Tesla," Edi- know exactly what to make of son replied, "you don't under- him. The old saw about there stand our American humor." being a thin line between genius and Tesla then caught the attention of madness is a false dilemma: for some , inventor of the there is no line at all. Tesla was one air brake, who was looking to break such rugged individualist with a foot into electrical technology and thought in each camp. Tesla's ideas on electric power Tesla was born of Serbian parents distribution had merit. Electricity can in Croatia and was raised and educated be distributed in two general forms: there and in Austria and Hungary. direct current (DC) and alternating cur- From early childhood he displayed rent (AC). Edison used DC exclusively great precociousness in technological and had a near monopoly on impor- subjects: biographers credit him with tant electrical patents at the time. devising waterwheels at the age of Tesla advocated the use of AC, which five. As a university student he ex- could be transmitted much greater celled in electrical technology. About distances and, just incidentally, 1882 he conceived the ideas that offered a way to do an end-run around would form the foundation for his Edison's DC patents. only truly successful inventions: the In 1891 Tesla and Westinghouse in- and "polyphase" stalled an AC motor and generator in power transmission. the mining town of Telluride, Colo- In 1884, while working in Paris for rado, which got him, and the state, the Continental Edison Company, a credit for the world's first practical French affiliate of Thomas Edison, he commercial use of AC motors, genera-

368 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 18 tors, and transmission lines. The e q u i p m e n t was APPARATOS FOE T B 1 H S M I T T I H 0 ELECTRICAL ENERGY. used to power mining APPLICATION nun jii.u, 1101. IIIIVED HIT 4, IIM. machinery from a water 1,119,732. Patented Dec 1.1914. turbine four miles distant. This installation, the Ames Power Station, is still extant and bears a marker honoring Tesla. Westinghouse then won the contract to light the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago using Tesla's "polyphase" AC system—essentially the same method of trans- mitting electricity we use today. This was the first world's fair at which elec- tricity was exhibited ex- tensively. In addition to providing all the power and light at the fair, Tesla gave lectures and demon- strated a number of his inventions, most notably a metal egg that he used to show that magnetic fields could be made to rotate. ~n+^ ATTORNEYS. The egg would stand up and spin like a top o n its One of Testa's patents for transmitting electrical power narrow end when placed through the air. within the rotating field. This toy illu- and Canadian cataracts.) It also repre- strated the principle of the induction sents the end of Tesla's truly produc- motor—one of the few of Tesla's tive period. He would continue to pro- inventions that are ubiquitous today. duce remarkable ideas for decades but About this time Tesla was also devel- would never again be able to finish oping the high-voltage generator later what he started. known as the "" and using Tesla was now obsessed with the it to give spectacular electrical shows idea of transmitting electric power that, to people in the 1890s, must have without wires. This is different from been overwhelming. radio, the purpose of which is to trans- In the n e x t few years Tesla would mit information—sounds, pictures, supervise the i n s t a l l a t i o n of his poly- etc.—using very little energy. Tesla phase system at the new Adams wanted to pump so much raw elec- Power Station #1 at Niagara Falls. trical energy into the atmosphere (or This was the world's first true com- sometimes the earth, Tesla couldn't mercial electric power station. (Today make up his mind) that people all over there is a statue of Tesla on Goat the world would be able to run appli- Island, which divides the American ances without plugging them in, and

Summer 1994 369 (No. Model.) 4 Sheets—Sheet S. N. TESLA. ELECTRO MAGNETIC MOTOR. No. 381,968. Patented May 1, 1888.

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INVENTOR- lurcx~AisC.>l~~a!^- ' '^L... rj[i ,. x' fateo&t- Ojidb;. J-^Q.m^My. y^SZ^jP J^G^^&y U ATTORNEYS

One of Testa's patents for the electromagnetic induction motor.

370 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 18 • I

The on , built 1901-1903. was intended for radio and transmission of power across the Atlantic. ships at sea wouldn't need to carry thereafter. (Residents don't hold any fuel. He also talked of making the grudges and seem to regard the inven- upper atmosphere fluoresce—abolish- tor that knocked out their power sta- ing the dark of night forever. (One tion rather fondly. Today the city is of the most ironic aspects of current the home of the Tesla-worship is that many admirers of Science and Technology.) view with alarm the low-level electro- His next big project, the Warden- magnetic fields produced by small clyffe Tower, on Long Island, in New appliances, while all maintain un- York, was the last great enterprise of bounded enthusiasm for his wireless- his life. Built in 1901-1903 it was 172 power ideas, which, if they were feet tall and was to have had a practicable, would produce fields hemispherical metal dome when com- millions of times stronger than any- pleted. It's usually described as looking thing in use today.) To this end he began build- ing larger and larger Tesla coils. In 1899-1900 he operated a laboratory in Colorado Springs that was essentially a house for a huge Tesla coil— 54 feet in diameter. During one experiment, the purpose of which is still not entirely clear, Tesla's demands on the local electric utility became so great that the town's main generator Nikola Tesla was set on fire, blacking out the Tesla was honored for his invention of the induction entire area. Tesla left shortly motor in this 1983 postage stamp.

Summer 1994 371 Tesla's Inventions: A Critique

esla fans credit him with a long never took his ideas beyond some T list of inventions and dis- very short-range demonstrations. coveries. These include radio, a This left the field to Guglielmo bladeless steam turbine, fluores- Marconi—whom Tesla despised— cent lighting, robotics, diathermy, who would prove the feasibility of the laser, vertical takeoff aircraft, long-range wireless communica- pulsars, and much more. Ironically, tion just a few years later. This these people seem least enthusiastic leads to a Tesla Paradox: Although toward the one area in which he anticipated Marconi and others historians of science and tech- in many ways, excellent histories nology give Tesla unqualified of early radio need make only inci- credit: AC power technology. He dental mention of Tesla. (Two is generally credited with two books that together make an excel- ubiquitous inventions: the induc- lent history of early radio tech- tion motor and "polyphase" power nology are Syntomy and Spark and transmission. All Tesla fans love his The Continuous Wave, both by Hugh induction motor, but many fear the G. J. Aitken.) This paradox recurs current that makes it go. Yet this throughout Tesla's life. is really the only area in which His bladeless turbine may have Tesla succeeded in developing a been conceptually sound, but dif- concept into a practical reality. (In ficult and expensive to manu- his honor, the scientific unit of facture, and it may have had tech- magnetic induction, or magnetic nical characteristics that limited its flux density, is named the "tesla.") appeal. Tesla fans are inclined to In other areas Tesla's achievements resent this. are not so impressive. Other claims are even more A good example is radio. In the dubious: Tesla fans broaden the mid-1890s Tesla developed all the definition of invention until it loses components needed to construct a all meaning. Tesla found that gas- practical radio system, but then filled glass tubes glowed in the seems to have lost interest—he presence of his high-voltage like a giant mushroom or salt shaker. is, however, immediately compre- Tesla obtained funds to build it by hensible as an enormous Tesla coil— signing control of his patents over to far larger than the monster at Colo- financier J. P. Morgan, apparently on rado Springs. It was never completed the understanding the tower would be and was pulled down in 1917. part of a worldwide radio system. But Although a millionaire in the Tesla was still thinking of wireless 1890s, Tesla had so indulged his appe- power. To electrical engineers the tite for expensive experiments that form of Tesla's tower doesn't seem to from the early 1920s until his death lend itself to being a radio antenna (by in 1943 he was nearly destitute. By this time radio pioneers were using the turn of the century, at the height much simpler, cheaper antennas). It of his reputation, Tesla had cultivated

372 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 18 apparatus, but modern neon and 60 years before radio astronomers fluorescent lighting don't work this did. Considering what radio tech- way and were developed by others. nology was in 1900 this may not The claim that Tesla is the father be the true explanation. of robotics stems from a story of Tesla's "death ray" is something a demonstration he performed in of a mystery. Some (not all) ad- 1898 in which he steered a model mirers insist it was actually built boat in a water tank by remote con- and used to shoot down a plane. trol. He speculated that electricity Descriptions vary: sometimes it is had curative powers and built Tesla a particle beam of some sort. My coils for this purpose—therefore it favorite is that it was "a kind of is claimed that he invented dia- radio-wave-scalar weapon or what thermy. He rambled about death might be called an ultra-sound gun" rays—hence, he "invented" the (The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola laser. Little more than a sketch Tesla, by D. H. Childress, 1993). from the 1920s of a very peculiar The most intriguing of Tesla's biplane on casters makes Tesla the inventions are the ones that got "inventor" of vertical take-off and away. Visitors to the Tesla landing (VTOL) aircraft. All this Museum in Colorado Springs are may be remarkably prescient, but told a story reminiscent of UFO by similar reasoning Leonardo da conspiracy tales: In a raid on his Vinci invented the helicopter and house immediately after his death, Hero of Alexandria (first century) government agents seized all of invented the steam locomotive. Tesla's apparatus—some 85 trunks About 1900 Tesla was playing full—either because timid bureau- with a radio receiver when he crats felt the world wasn't ready picked up a series of regular pulses. for the wonders of Tesla tech- He instantly concluded he had nology or for more sinister reasons. made contact with Martians—an Exactly what all this top-secret announcement that got him con- Tesla technology may be isn't siderable ridicule. Tesla's modern known, but some of it, so goes the admirers, perhaps a bit embar- story, may make time travel rassed for their hero, are equally possible. sure he had tuned in on a pulsar— -;•/• friendships with such Gilded Age sional newspaper copy by talking of luminaries as architect Stanford building "death rays" and photo- White and author Samuel Clemens, graphing thoughts on film. But by who once had his picture taken in one this time he was almost forgotten. of Tesla's laboratories—having al- Tesla was also a lifelong defender lowed himself to be suitably elec- of the physics of Sir Isaac Newton trified. But as the twentieth century against the innovations of the upstart wore on, Tesla's coterie of admirers Albert Einstein. slowly shrank as his public pro- Like Howard Hughes, Tesla had a nouncements on scientific subjects lifelong terror of germs, and this became more and more bizarre. phobia grew steadily worse as he During World War II he made occa- aged. He washed continually—at

Summer 1994 373 Just What Is a Tesla Coil Anyway?

esla coils and books about them examples. Presumably, they are T are ubiquitous at Tesla exhibi- thinking of ignition coils and fly- tions. These coils are specialized back transformers, neither of electrical transformers and spark which is a Tesla coil. These things gaps in circuits that produce high are much more sophisticated devi- voltages at high frequencies. Often ces whose only similarity to a Tesla the coil has a large metal ball on coil is that they all produce high top from which streamers of elec- voltages. Some Tesla fans go even tricity shoot. further and imply that all trans- Large Tesla coils can produce formers are Tesla coils. This is non- millions of volts and are used to sense: Tesla did not invent the make spectacular electrical dis- transformer. plays—but that's about all. The True Tesla coils are not used in Tesla coil has never been much scientific experiments today be- more than a toy: excellent for a cause they are too quirky: their vol- wide variety of adolescent mayhem tages and frequencies vary from but having no important scientific many causes and they require con- or industrial applications. This stant adjustment. They are also device, which obsessed Tesla for very "dirty" electrically: They pro- the last half of his life, is now only duce intense radio and TV inter- a curiosity. ference. Today's scientists and Tesla's admirers try to get engineers have far superior around this embarrassing fact by methods of producing high vol- claiming that Tesla coils are to be tages—methods that do not derive found in many places today: cars from Tesla's work. and television sets are favorite n hotels he would demand the maids raphies of Tesla: , by stock his room with 18 fresh towels John J. O'Neill; Tesla: Man Out of Time, a day. No matter how desperately in by Margaret Cheney; and Lightning in need of money, he was always impec- His Hand, by Inez Hunt and Wanetta cably dressed. He had many morbid W. Draper. These provide some in- fears: he was disturbed by round ob- sight but are more properly classified jects, particularly pearls in women's as hagipgraphy. This may not be jewelry. He preferred to dine alone be- entirely the fault of the authors: Tesla cause he couldn't bear to eat without encouraged his own personality cult, first counting the items on his plate, partly from vanity, partly as camou- and the habit embarrassed him. (He flage. The data needed for a truly satis- preferred things to come in multiples factory portrait may simply not exist of three.) His last years were spent (or it may be stored in Belgrade). How- in cheap hotels in which he devoted ever, although these authors have his time and meager resources to varying degrees of difficulty in distin- feeding pigeons—his only com- guishing science from nonscience, panions—that came to his windowsill. Tesla has yet to find a biographer There are three book-length biog- immune to his crankiness. o

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