In 1891, Nikola Tesla gave a lecture for the members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in New York City, where he made a striking demonstration. In each hand he held a gas discharge tube, an early version of the modern fluorescent bulb. The tubes were not connected to any wires, but nonetheless they glowed brightly during his demonstration. Tesla explained to the awestruck attendees that the electricity was being transmitted through the air by the pair of metal sheets which sandwiched the stage. He went on to speculate how one might increase the scale of this effect to transmit wireless power and information over a broad area, perhaps even the entire Earth. As was often the case, Tesla’s audience was engrossed but bewildered.
Tesla also invented fluorescent lights, radio transmitters, the famous Tesla coil and the alternating current form of electricity transmission that powers your computer. Wireless electricity transmission, though, would have gone down in history as his greatest discovery — if only it weren’t so darned expensive.
In 1900, famed financier J.P. Morgan learned of Tesla’s convictions after reading an article in Century Magazine, wherein the scientist described a global network of high-voltage towers which could one day control the weather, relay text and images wirelessly, and provide ubiquitous electricity via the atmosphere. Morgan, hoping to capitalize on the future of wireless telegraphy, immediately invested $150,000 to relocate Tesla’s lab to Long Island to construct a pilot plant for this “World Wireless System.” Construction of Wardenclyffe Tower and its dedicated power generating facility began the following year
Friday, April 23, 2010
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