EXTENSIONS of REMARKS July 18, 1989 EXTENSIONS of REMARKS COMMEMORATING NIKOLA Has Been Called the Forgotten Genius

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EXTENSIONS of REMARKS July 18, 1989 EXTENSIONS of REMARKS COMMEMORATING NIKOLA Has Been Called the Forgotten Genius 15076 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS July 18, 1989 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS COMMEMORATING NIKOLA has been called the Forgotten Genius. Universities of Paris and Graz and the Poly­ TESLA There is not only the known and the un­ technical School in Bucharest in 1937, the known Tesla, but the unknowable-called by University of Grenoble in 1938, and the Uni­ some an eccentric, by others a mystic, a vi­ versity of Sofia in 1939. HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS sionary, and a person of extraordinary Tesla was made a member or honorary OF PENNSYLVANIA powers of perception . And so Nikola fellow of various academic and professional Tesla's memory is virtually venerated by societies: the American Association for the IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES some and utterly neglected by many more. Advancement of Science in 1895, the Ameri­ Tuesday, July 18, 1989 Tesla deserves to be known better. can Electro-Therapeutic Association in 1903, It is not my purpose today to describe the New York Academy of Sciences in 1907, Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to Tesla's life and works. This has already the American Institute of Electrical Engi­ take this opportunity to honor the 133d anni­ been done by dozens of biographers and his­ neers in 1917, the Serbian Academy of Sci­ versary of the birth of a scientist whose inven­ torians of science. Perhaps it is enough ences in Belgrade in 1937, and many others. tions sit in the ranks with those of Edison, merely to cite a readily available source The medals and other honors which he re­ Watts, and Marconi. Throughout his life, this such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, ceived were many. Among the first was the whose 1969 edition states that Nikola Tesla Montenegrin Medal of Prince Danilo I, inventor was awarded 13 honorary degrees was a "U.S. inventor of electrical devices awarded by Prince Nicholas of Montenegro and 7 medals commending his revolutionary and equipment who introduced the first in 1895. In 1917 the American Institute of work with electrical machinery. Today, howev­ practical application of alternating current. Electrical Engineers gave Tesla the Edison er, he has been deemed the "Forgotten . ." After some biographical details the ar­ Gold Medal Award. He almost did not make Genius." His name: Nikola Tesla. ticle continues, "Tesla conceived the rotat­ it for the award. One story is that he As a physicist, electrical engineer, and in­ ing magnetic field principle as an effective skipped out during the banquet to feed his ventor, the Croatian-born Tesla came to method of utilizing alternating current for beloved pigeons in Bryant Park, behind the power. He patented the induction, synchro­ New York Public Library. Luckily a col­ America to dedicate his life to scientific re­ nous and split-phase motors, and new forms league knew of his custom and was able to search. The impact of his work is immeasur­ of generators and transformers; this equip­ bring him back in time. In 1926 Tesla re­ able. As the American electrical engineer Ber­ ment formed the system for the generation ceived the Yugoslav Order of St. Sava, and nard Arthur Behrend once stated: and use of power from Niagara Falls. By ten years later the Yugoslav Order of the Were we to eliminate from our industrial means of lectures in Europe and the United White Eagle. In 1934 the City of Philadel­ world the results of Tesla's work, the wheels States beginning in 1891, he announced dis­ phia awarded him the John Scott Medal of industry would cease to turn, our electric coveries and applications of high frequency Award. In 1938 the National Institute of Im­ trains and cars would stop, our towns would alternating current, including the high-fre­ migrant Welfare presented, Tesla with a be dark, our mills and factories dead and quency resonant transformer, or 'Tesla scroll of honor as a foreign-born citizen idle. So far reaching is his work that it has coil.'" whose influence was national and interna­ become the warp and woof of industry. Behind this drily objective language there tional in scope, constructive in character, is a dramatic story, of a Serbian immigrant and purposeful in objective. Tesla shared Important inventions such as the synchro­ from Croatia, in Austria-Hungary, who this honor with Justice Felix Frankfurter. nous and the split-phase motors comprised came to this land of opportunity with four On his 75th birthday Tesla was given a the generators of the Niagara Falls which cents in his pocket, and who gave to it far yearly pension of $7,000 from the Tesla In­ were to supply electricity cleanly and cheaply. more than it gave to him-except freedom stitute in Yugoslavia. This annual stipend It is now 43 years after Mr. Tesla has passed and opportunity, which he valued above all. saved him from dying penniless in a New away, but where is his name in the history The importance of Nikola Tesla's discover­ York City hotel room. ies was described quite graphically by the Perhaps none of these honors and others books? American electrical engineer Bernard during his lifetime would have given him as It is due time that we recognize Nikola Arthur Behrend 0875-1932), himself of much satisfaction as a decision of the Tesla for his revolutionary lifetime achieve­ Swiss birth and a designer of electrical ma­ United States Supreme Court nine months ments, and it is a time for those of Croatian chinery and inventor: "Were we to eliminate after Tesla's death which recognized that descent to salute one of their greatest fore­ from our industrial world the results of some discoveries attributed to Marconi had fathers. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would actually been Tesla's previously and protect­ cease to turn, our electric trains and cars ed by patent. It should be noted that Tesla Now, I include in the RECORD excerpts from would stop, our towns would be dark, our was not himself involved in the suit but a speech given by Dr. Michael B. Petrovich, mills and factories dead and idle. So far­ rather companies that were using his pat­ professor of history, University of Wisconsin­ reaching is his work that it has become the ents. Tesla cared little for money or honors. Madison, before the Tesla Memorial Society, warp and woof of industry.'' Yet after Tesla's death, in 1943, there were in Niagara Falls, July 12, 1980: Let us turn, first, to the known Tesla, more honors to come. One can hardly enu­ [From the Congressional Record, April 28, indeed, the renowned Tesla. Though forgot­ merate them here. 1981] ten by many today, Tesla was honored Of special interest is the fact that the greatly and many times, during his lifetime word "Tesla" became part of the language TESLA: THE KNOWN, UNKNOWN, AND and after, by those who knew his worth. Let of electrical science-not only in the name UNKNOWABLE me give some examples. of the Tesla Coil, but in the term "tesla" for It would be difficult to find any important In 1982 the Royal Institute in London in­ the unit of magnetic flux density. Thus the historical figure about whom so much is vited Tesla to lecture there. So did the Insti­ word tesla, with a small letter "t", is in the known, and yet who is as unknown as the tute of Electrical Engineering in London same class with terms such as ampere, ohm, American scientific discoverer Nikola Tesla and the Physics Society of Paris. In 1893 he volt, and watt-all of which have become so 0854-1943). On the one hand here is an ex­ lectured before the Franklin Institute in much a part of our language that we scarce­ traordinary man whose achievements have Philadelphia. This august body presented ly remember that they were all the names literally changed the face of the earth and him with the Certificate of the Elliott Cres­ of great men. Tesla shares this honor with who has received honors and recognition son Gold Medal Award. two other Americans-Joseph Henry 0 797- from all sides, from those, that is, who know A dozen institutions of higher learning 1878> and the Italian American physicist and value his works. On the other hand, conferred honorary degrees on him: Colum­ Enrico Fermi, <1901-1954), after whom the there is a discouraging and even shocking bia and Yale in 1894, the High Technical henry and the particle fermion have been ignorance of Tesla and his discoveries by School in Vienna in 1908, the Universities of named. the vast majority of people today, including Belgrade and Zagreb in 1926, the High In 1952 a bronze replica of a bust of Tesla millions whose own lives have been pro­ Technical School in Prague in 1936, the was unveiled at the Technical Museum in foundly affected by Tesla's discoveries. He High Technical School in Brno in 1937, the Vienna. It is a copy of the original by the e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. July 18, 1989 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 15077 famed Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor Ivan Jan, Yugoslavia 1856-died New York, U.S.A. thirty-four years of his life. The justly Mestrovic, which is in the Yugoslav Acade­ 1943-constructed in 1901-1905 Warden­ noted Encyclopedia Britannica publishes an my of Arts and Sciences in Zagreb. clyffe, huge radio station with antenna annual Yearbook as well as a special Year­ In 1952 there was also established the tower 187 feet high <destroyed 1917), which book of Science and the Future.
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