Happy Birthday, Tesla!

Nikola Tesla would be 160 this Sunday, July 10. He is not around to eat cake, though, since he died when he was 86 (still not bad considering life expectancy was 62 back then).

The Serbians have had a museum dedicated to Tesla and his work smack in the middle of the capital city, Belgrade, since 1952. The rest of the world is way behind, just a couple of statues here and there. The US, his home for most of his life, still has no museum. The Tesla Science Center is a non-profit that’s been collecting donations for decades to try and open its doors at the site of Tesla’s former Wardenclyffe laboratory on Long Island. They crowdfunded to purchase the property, but still don’t have enough to actually open a museum. They do have enough for cake, though, so if you’re in the area, drop by their birthday festivities. Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal has pressured Elon Musk – the CEO of Tesla Motors – to donate to the project in this comic: Tesla Model S, Part Two: Man vs. Motor. Successfully. Musk gave 1 million. Which is nice. But also reminded me of this:

austin powers - one million

It’s not 1967, is it? Anyway, Musk must be saving his pocket change to buy us all ice-cream sandwiches from the vending machines on Mars. Thank you!

Sadly, funding was a problem for Tesla while he was alive as well. The Wardenclyffe laboratory is just one example. It was the site of a tower built for wireless power and communication transmission. J.P. Morgan, who originally funded the project, backed off. The lab took 3 years to build, but was shut down within less than two years. The tower was demolished for scrap and the property was foreclosed in 1922. 🙁

To celebrate and honor the man who gave us AC electricity, radio, radar, X-rays, hydroelectricity, and pretty much anything and everything electric and wireless, you could try one of the experiments we describe. If you’re not feeling creative but still wanna party, you can watch this awesome video by Sarah Donner and The Oatmeal: