Prof. David Flores: Exhibition – Old sparks for new hopes

 

The Museum of Science and Technology – Belgrade inaugurated the exhibition « Old sparks for new hopes » by David Flores, professor of natural sciences in Spain and Art Ambassador of UNESCO Club Sorbonne. The exhibition shows,  in as much old sparks, replicas of machines, apparatus and instruments that revive a cabinet of traditional physics, specialized in electrostatics, in the late nineteenth century, and while new hopes, in its metaphorical sense, proposes a reflection on the sciences, and their implications, that we transmitt to the children of today, the guarantors of tomorrow.

In view of the lack of didactic instruments found in many school cabinets for the teaching of physics, the author wanted, on the one hand, to recall the classical instruments used in the nineteenth century, and on the other to encourage young engineers and builders to reinstate the task of producing traditional instruments and instruments for the teaching of the experimental sciences.

More than 25 functional, antique-looking replicas of apparatus and instruments, brought from Spain, are exhibited in the exhibition. All the replicas were made by the author of the exhibition in a period of 20 years. All major types of electrostatic machines are represented, among them we find replicas of very rare machines like those of Nairne, Carré, Holtz, Righi and Bonenberg. In addition to the lesser known or unknown devices today, visitors can also see some of the classic devices such as Electroscopes, Leyden Bottles or a Van de Graaff generator. Another significant part of this exhibition are the books of the author’s specialized library. Important in the history of science, they are presented in memorable editions, with descriptions and illustrations describing machines, and other more modern ones, indispensable for the task of the teacher, historian, or constructor. Besides, exhibition shows the samples of the materials used in practice, for electrostatics and for the manufacture of models.

Electrostatic machines, as such, were created from the seventeenth century. They were used as high voltage generators for the study of electrical phenomena. Confirmation that an electrostatic machine is working almost always means getting a spark at one end. In addition to its application for scientific purposes, the public display of the appearance of electric shocks for decades aroused great interest and represented an important social entertainment. There were even small-scale machines that were designed for children at the end of the 19th century with the aim of having fun and teaching them. The rapid development of transforming devices, such as the Rumkorff coil, capable of producing high potential electric current from small electrochemical elements, or as the Tesla transformer capable of generating high voltage and frequency currents, caused the electrostatic machines to fall in oblivion Modern appliances such as the Van de Graaff generator are still used in the production of very high voltages of several million volts, with the main aim of exploring matter at a subatomic scale.

The author explains his intention: « My profession is teaching, I always exercise with a certain degree of restlessness and with a high degree of Hope. Of concern, to know that it is not easy to transmit love to Art and Sciences to With Esperanza, because I firmly believe that without it, it would not make sense to play any role in the field of teaching, and because I was convinced that my professional responsibility was determined by her, since it would be a crime transmitting desperation to young people who open themselves to life. « 

David Flores Masvidal, professor of natural sciences, was born in Spain in 1966. David Flores Masvidal, professor of natural sciences, was born in 1966 in Kanet de Mar, Spain. He graduated gemology at the Faculty of Geology at the University of Barcellona, where he specialized in the study of diamonds. He also completed studies of philosophy and pedagogy, and has been educating for more than 20 years. He is professionally engaged in the production of replica of old scientific apparatus.

Exhibition Old sparks for new hopes: 09.2017-15.10.2017,

Museum of Science and Technology, Belgrade

Tesla ECO Forum 2017 photo-souvenirs

The Tesla ECO Forum is the central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on world’s most prolific inventor Nikola Tesla’s contribution to sustainable development, and fostering ideas for a more sustainable future upon Tesla’s ideas.

The goal of the Tesla ECO Forum is to to advocate for, and enrich the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, at the same time promoting the World Wildlife Fund’s concept “Building a future in which people live in harmony with nature.” Furthermore, Tesla ECO Forum act as a sustainability lab fostering the sustainable use of technologies.

Learn more about 2017 Tesla ECO Forum

Srdjan Pavlovic about Tesla

Medium logo, Tesla Memory Project

Mr Srdjan Pavlovic, Sorbonne University UNESCO Club Cross Cultural Ambassador and contributor, also generosly supported in several ways our edition « The essential Nikola Tesla – peacebuilding endeavor ». Please find here below his article on Tesla:

I shall always remember my first day in school. In headmaster’s office, where my parents brought me for a short interview and welcome admission, first thing I had spotted high on the wall behind the headmaster’s desk was Tesla’s portrait. His eyes smiling and looking at me. « Mum, look, it’s Tesla over there », I yelled joyously as if I had recognized a long lost friend of mine.

Indeed, Tesla was not unknown to me, a little cheerful, lively kid growing up in peaceful Belgrade of seventies. I had been used to listen to bedtime stories that told not only about princes and fairy tales, but also quite a few Serbian epic poems as well. And, then, there were also stories about Tesla. A hero, wonder-maker, good-doer, a man almost magical but still human, real, caring and curious. I had kept asking my parents, already desperate and bored by infinite retells, to tell me this or that story all over again. And Tesla’s stories were, almost as a rule, high above on top of that wish list of mine. I had enjoyed hearing same lines again and again and vividly watching in my imagination pictures from Tesla’s childhood and youth. Nikola T. in a way became a pal of mine.

Many years later, while attending School of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade, in the school’s largest eponymous amphitheater Tesla in bronze stood silently in the corner. Nikola T. was resting his head against his fist, his regard absent and reflexive, while listening a tons of lessons about electricity, electromagnetic waves, frequency modulation, etc, etc. Nick was sharing all secrets, jokes and jargon of us eager and impatient freshmen, always there, and always our reliable confidant.

A real epiphany was, however, bound to occur in the new century. Mesmerized, I stood still without moving, fascinated, intimidated with my eyes fixed at powerful scenery of Niagara Falls, in a deafening tumult and thousands of miniscule water drops dispersed all around. It was not far away from there, some hundred and something years before, that Tesla had it built the first hydro-electric power plant in the world. At that divine place worthy of earthly beauty and Tesla’s genius, I was finally able to grasp the greatness of his achievements and spiritually recharge at the source of his inspiration.

Article by Srdjan Pavlovic (thought leader, electrical engineer & IT expert)

Posted by Daniela Iancu

Oxana Bogachkina about Tesla

STUDENTS  ABOUT  TESLA

Medium logo, Tesla Memory Project

Nikola Tesla, a man who revolutionized the world with his inventions, deserves our gratitude every time we switch on a light or plug in an electronic device. Not only do we owe Tesla for global electrification, but also wireless communication and radio. Tesla was a genius of his epoch who generously passed on his heritage to us.

Besides his discoveries, I appreciate Tesla’s personal qualities, his will, and his efforts to improve the world by providing people with free, accessible energy. During his life he had to overcome many obstacles including the War of currents with Thomas Edison, who was jealous of Tesla’s new and more efficient alternative current system, the endless attacks of J.P. Morgan, insatiable for the profit of his company, and finally poverty at the end of his life… Still, nothing ever corrupted this man: neither money, nor the threats of ill-wishers.

I find it important for people to be aware of the scale of Tesla’s contribution to the development of humanity and to share their appreciation with each other. Personally speaking, I myself was inspired by the workshop about Tesla given by Aleksandar Protic, during the Youth Forum “Greater Europe: focus Russia” in Strasbourg (2013).Thanks to this workshop I got an incentive not only to learn more about Tesla and his life, but also to share what I had learned by telling others about this great person – a man whose name should not be forgotten and whose impact on our lives should not be underestimated.

Oxana Bogachkina

Moscow State University School of International Relations

Table ronde Tesla : Journée des droits de l’Homme à l’UNESCO

Journée des droits de l’Homme à l’UNESCO

Samedi 07 décembre 2013

Le Conseil de la jeunesse de la FFC UNESCO, organisateur de la journée du 07 décembre pour quatrième fois, a choisi de mettre l’accent sur thème « Reconnaître et Fédérer les talents ».

Les membres de notre Conseil de la Jeunesse ont choisi de garder à cette manifestation, signe de notre engagement, un caractère artistique et culturel, dans la continuité de l’édition 2012 qui s’intitulait « Agir en créativité ». Divers forums et ateliers ont eu lieu destiné à plus de 300 élèves et étudiants présents.

Le Club UNESCO Sorbonne avait présenté, à cette occasion, la table ronde mémorielle dédiée à Nikola Tesla. Egalement, les titres des ambassadeurs interculturels ont été attribués à Michèle Paris, Boris Vukobrat, Jean-François Sabouret et Bojan Zulfikarpasic.

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 Table ronde TESLA

7 décembre 2013  UNESCO, Paris  10:00 – 12:30

 

Aleksandar Protic – Introduction : Tesla, vie œuvre, importance 

Projet Tesla en Inde à Sustainable Leadership Summit

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TESLIANUM Centar par Nataly Vukobrat

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 Novi Sad – la ville Teslienne par Aleksandra Stajic

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 The International Tesla Congress par Slobodan Ivetic

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 Spectacle multimédia Tesla, Les Confidences Électrique d’un génie

crée par Ugo Venel et Louis-Pierre Duval

et acteurs Pierre Londiche (Edison) et Sergey Filipenko (Tesla)

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Club UNESCO Sorbonne a organisé une exposition consacré à Tesla. Les auteurs suivant ont exposé leur tableaux  : Mila Gajin, Aimé Venel, Roberto Letan et Samuel Moucha

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« Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité. »

Ainsi est libellé l’article premier de la Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme adoptée par l’Assemblée générale de l’Organisation des Nations Unies le 19 décembre 1948.

 « Premier instrument universel à reconnaître la dignité inhérente à tous les membres de la famille humaine, la Déclaration incarnait des siècles de réflexion – elle a également marqué le début d’efforts mondiaux concertés pour réaliser les droits de l’homme en toutes circonstances.

Un pas décisif a été franchi en 1993 avec la création du Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l’homme. Adoptés il y a 20 ans, la Déclaration et le Programme d’action de Vienne restent éminemment pertinents aujourd’hui, réaffirmant l’universalité des droits de l’homme, leur corrélation et leur importance pour le développement. Des avancées considérables ont eu lieu depuis lors, mais le plein respect de l’exercice des droits de l’homme reste difficile à atteindre.

En 2000, les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement ont fixé un agenda humaniste ambitieux qui a servi de catalyseur à d’importants progrès dans de nombreux pays. Cependant, 2,7 milliards de femmes et d’hommes continuent de vivre avec à peine plus de deux dollars par jour. L’accès à une éducation de qualité est encore un rêve pour des millions de jeunes filles et de femmes. Les catégories les plus défavorisées de la société continuent d’être victimes d’exclusion, de maltraitance et de violence. Dans le même temps, l’état de droit reste faible dans de nombreux pays et la liberté d’opinion et d’expression se heurte à des menaces croissantes.

Pour que la liberté et l’égalité de dignité et de droit deviennent réalité pour toutes les femmes et tous les hommes, nous ne devons épargner aucun effort pour aider les pays à atteindre les Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement d’ici à 2015. Il est impératif de tenir les promesses faites en 2000 tout en fixant pour le développement durable un nouvel agenda ambitieux qu’il nous faudra suivre en nous concentrant sur l’élimination de l’extrême pauvreté dans le monde. L’élimination de la pauvreté est un fondement de la paix et du développement durables – telle est la leçon essentielle des 65 dernières années. Ce devrait être notre nouvel agenda mondial pour les droits de l’homme, l’accent étant spécialement mis sur les droits des femmes et leur autonomisation.

Le 20e anniversaire de la Conférence de Vienne est une occasion pour tous les gouvernements, toutes les sociétés et tous les hommes et femmes de se mobiliser et de regarder vers l’avenir. De grands progrès ont été réalisés depuis 1948 et 1993, mais beaucoup de durs efforts restent à faire pour que la dignité et les droits deviennent une réalité pour tous ».

Message de Mme Irina Bokova, Directrice générale de l’UNESCO, à l’occasion de la Journée des droits de l’homme

Ishaq Badis Boutaleb : Tesla article

STUDENTS ABOUT TESLA

Medium logo, Tesla Memory Project

Nikola Tesla, a common name, but a unique story. Whenever I hear this name, my mind gives me allocations of a spark, electric power, X-rays and radio frequencies used in different fields such as Science, Medicine and Environment. These inventions are not of actuality indeed, but how many minds did they challenge? How many lives did they save and change? And more importantly, who gave the chance to humankind to enter an era of new technologies?

The contribution of his genius to science particularly and humanity in general can only be seen by those who know to appreciate, Tesla is everywhere around, from the light at our places, to the smart phones we daily use. Tesla did not just set the technology basis; but he radically changed our habits to forever. His limitless imagination led him to be the starter of nowadays industrialized civilization, even if he was always misunderstood and criticized, his only mistake was that he has been born ahead of his time. When once he announced that he could develop a ‘’wireless energy” and “remote controlled machines”, his peers said he was crazy, but the fact was that he could visualize his inventions, and our present adoption of his inventions witnesses and confirms the truth of his statements almost a century later.

As an Operations Research Engineer, Nikola Tesla inspires me by his:

Humanity:

The main researches he made were in order to give to humanity a better life, he was constantly determined to provide power equally to everyone on earth, and this value caused him disagreements with his investors and put him into permanent conflicts with the competitors of his time, but he never gave up on his personal mission.

Resilience:

His life has not been that easy that we could imagine. Being able to stand out of a crowd composed of Edison and Einstein is enough said to describe his genius, he believed in his work when nobody did. He got fired, insulted, his alternating current model was rejected, treated as a fool, his laboratory was even burned but he kept trying. His answer to his enemies was not a word, but master pieces of like no other inventions. When the world elite were impressed by relativity and quantum mechanics, he declared: “The present time is theirs, but the future is mine!”.

Humble spirit:

Tesla was aware of his outstanding potential, he knew how unique his researches were but he never overestimated himself. He asked for advices and involved other people in his works, and when the world praised his inventions, he modestly commented: “I am not an inventor, I am a discoverer”.

In his memory, I would like to say: thank you Nikola Tesla not for enlightening our daily life, but for enlightening our minds.

Ishaq Badis BOUTALEB

University of Science and Technology of Algiers – Algeria

Aleksandar Protic interviewed by USA UNESCO (USFUCA)

USFUCA

Albert Gianatan: You are highly involved in the promotion of peace—lecturing at places like Oxford and Cambridge, presenting the Tesla Memory Project at the UNESCO Headquarters, studying in detail how intercultural communication works. How did you become interested in this field? Was there a moment of epiphany or has this passion steadily grown over the years?

Aleksandar Protic: I grow up in multicultural Belgrade, a crossroads between East and West. In a time of the Yugoslav wars, as a child I wrote peace poetry. After seeing the war consequences, I have transformed poetry into action and I became a peace activist. Active boy scout and judoka in my childhood, I was constantly learning about diversity, respect and accuracy. Afterwards, studying in universities in three continents, my passion was always observing, comparing and analyzing communication, its forms and expressions. Formally, I completed my Masters degree in cross-cultural communication at Sorbonne.

Albert Gianatan: Most people can agree that communication and education are benevolent goals, but what is it precisely about cultural understanding and UNESCO’s work in it that really intrigues you? What is it that drives you to study it, speak about it, take action to promote it?

Aleksandar Protic: My enthusiasm towards UNESCO is twofold : first of all, UNESCO’s noble goals are a constant source of inspiration reminding us that there is always more to be accomplished. I am very enthusiastic about the organization’s idea, since the foundation: peacemaking by many means, and investing in education, culture and science instead of arms.

Secondly, it seems to me that one of the most important developments which occurred in the last decades in the field of youth cooperation with governments is precisely the UNESCO’s Youth Forum. It is the only place where young delegates can implement their ideas into the highest level decision making-bodies.

Additionally, I consider that Mr Guy Djoken’s example of cross-cultural peacebuilding is very precious and our UNESCO Clubs are very lucky to have him.

Albert Gianatan: Why do you believe that intercultural understanding and communication are effective mechanisms with which to advance peace?

Aleksandar Protic: Effort to understand diversity guides us to reconciliation, even though peace could not be created with a one-time act. It is actually the communication which helps us to provide information, to process it, and to improve decision making in order to improve the relationship.

In a more global level, Communication was defined by UNESCO as an essential tool for reconstructing civil societies torn apart by conflict.

Albert Gianatan: What is the single most meaningful endeavor you have led or participated in thus far?

Aleksandar Protic: The most meaningful endeavor would relate to some personal effort and action, therefore, this is not the place I would use to talk about it.  Nevertheless, I will mention something I am proud of concerning our Tesla Memory Project: Educating young people all over the world about Nikola Tesla, transmitting them an example of a great person, and a great role model who first transformed his own world, and then the world we all live in.

Albert Gianatan: For anyone out there who desires to make a change in this field but does not know what to do, how do you recommend they start?

Aleksandar Protic: Lao Tzu considered that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. If everyone starts by making positive changes in its own life and surroundings, it will make a multiple difference.

Speaking more about organizing synergies, I would underline that UNESCO Clubs give the extraordinary possibilities to young people to become members of a great network, to relate to amazing people, to earn valuable knowledge, experience, and symbols. Joining the UNESCO Club family would definitely be my recommendation in terms of group activism.

Albert Gianatan: How does the future of cross-cultural communication look? What role do you see yourself playing in the overall picture?

Aleksandar Protic: Global communication, including the cross cultural communication, is already tending toward virtual communities and therein lies its future. However, communication is our own responsibility in despite of its form.

I would aspire that my role doesn’t change the direction, but to enlarge its impact: always contributing to assertiveness, culture and education.

Read interview on USFUCA website

USFUCA website homepage

Lisa Bluhm about Nikola Tesla

STUDENTS ABOUT TESLA

Medium logo, Tesla Memory Project

Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. Throughout space there is energy.  — Nikola Tesla, 1892

  Nikola Tesla can be regarded as one of the most influential scientists of today. Nikola Tesla was a pioneer in many fields and his ideas were beyond their time but they allowed him to invent technology that paved the way for the future of modern society. Nikola Tesla invented and patented the rotating magnetic field, the basis of most alternating-current machinery. He also developed the three-phase system of electric power transmission. He invented the Tesla coil, which is an induction coil widely used in radio technology.

Tesla was a pioneer in many fields.  The Tesla coil, which he invented in 1891, is widely used today in radio and television sets and other electronic equipment. Among his discoveries are the fluorescent light, laser beam, wireless communications, and wireless transmission of electrical energy, remote control, robotics, Tesla’s turbines and vertical take-off aircraft. Tesla is the father of the radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He registered over 700 patents worldwide. His vision included exploration of solar energy and the power of the sea. He foresaw interplanetary communications and satellites.

Without Nikola Tesla’s inventions and Patents one must ask themselves if we would live in the same world and society today. Nikola Tesla has given to this world much more than any man of wealth and power could. He has provided this world and modern day society with things like Alternating current, X-rays, Radio, Remote Control, Electric Motors and Lasers. He has changed the face of the planet in more ways than one man ever could.

The electric motor has been one of Tesla’s inventions that have an impact of almost everybody in the world. Ranging from household appliances such as a kitchen blender or a washing machine to power tools in garage. Everybody in the world to some small extent has come into contact or has been influenced by one of Nikola Telsla’s inventions. Motor Cars, ceiling fans, power tools, weaponry used in wars. Nikola Tesla affects the daily lives of so many people around the world.  Nikola Tesla’s Alternating Current induction motor is utilised throughout the world in industry and household appliances. It sparked the industrial revolution at the turn of the century.  Electricity today is generated, transmitted and converted to mechanical power by forms of his inventions. Nikola Tesla’s greatest achievement is his polyphase Alternating Current system, which is today lighting the entire world.

Nikola Tesla was a true visionary and because of his inventions society has been able to move forward into a technological age where people can have more freedom to be able to listen to their car radio on their way to work, watch the evening news on their TV, children using ceiling fans in school on a hot day, using appliances in the kitchen to help prepare a meal or simply turning on the light switch to light a room on a dark evening.

Nikola Tesla helped create, shape and revolutionise the world we live in today.

Lisa Bluhm

Griffith University Gold Coast Queensland Australia

Louis-Pierre Duval et Ugo Venel créent pour Tesla

Nikola Tesla a voué sa vie à la science dans le but ultime de faire avancer l’humanité vers plus d’équité :

« La science n’est qu’une perversion si son but n’est pas d’améliorer les conditions de l’humanité ». « Rendre l’énergie libre, accessible et gratuite, pour tous » contenait les prémisses d’une morale qui aurait pu changer notre XXe et XXIe siècle.

A partir de ce postulat nous avons construit la trame du spectacle, en respectant au mieux la vie du personnage, et des contemporains qui ont joué un rôle important dans sa vie. Les hommes ont souvent menés des guerres aux fins de contrôler l’approvisionnement en énergie et matières premières, alors que Tesla nous proposait de nous en affranchir, en nous suggérant un accès à l’énergie gratuite. Combien de guerres auraient pu être évitées… L’énergie libre serait un projet noble et pacificateur, peut être long utopiste dans le monde dans lequel nous vivons. Nos sociétés seront-elles en mesure de réaliser le rêve de Tesla, en relevant ce défi pour les générations à venir.

La rencontre avec l’association de danse Biseri nous a aidé à créer un spectacle artistique original. L’énergie que nous avons ressenti dans leurs danses a inspirée nos scènes et apporté un moyen de raconter le mécanisme de sa pensée. Ce projet rassemble 70 danseurs, 6 comédiens sur scène et 2 films de 8 mn.

Louis-Pierre Duval et Ugo Venel

Pupin – Tesla exhibition at Pupin Virtual Museum

Pupin Virtual Museum, with help of Sorbonne University UNESCO Club, Serbian Telekom, Mihajlo Pupin Educational and Research Society and Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, presented  the first Pupin Virtual Museum exhibition « PUPIN-TESLA » :

« Four days before the 159th birthday of great scientist Mihajlo Pupin, Telekom Srbija and the Mihajlo Pupin Educational and Research Society, with the support of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, presented, in his birthplace of Idvor, the activities to be taken on the national level in the course of 2014 to mark Pupin’s year.

During a specially guided tour through the Heritage Complex in the village of Idvor, a new exhibition entitled Pupin – Tesla and the www.idvor.rs website, which provides for a 3D tour of the scientist’s birthplace, were presented in the Mihajlo Pupin Virtual Museum. Telekom Srbija, which aided the two projects, also presented as a gift a large TV set to the Heritage Complex in order for the visitors to be able to learn more about Pupin through video. Likewise, a QR with the basic information about the sites in both Serbian and English was set up in the Mihajlo Pupin’s Endowment – National Home.

“It was our wish to present a new exhibition as a virtual museum on an authentic location and to invite everybody to visit this place personally. Those who are unable to come may learn widely known and lesser known information and data about the life and work of Mihajlo Pupin in the virtual museum and to walk through the Heritage Complex by simply visiting the Idvor website. In this manner, we brought Idvor closer to those for whom the village is too far. For fourth months now, the work of Mihajlo Pupin has lived in the museum which is now available to every citizen of the world”, Marija Boškovi?, the manager of the PR Department of Telekom Srbija, said.

With the Mihajlo Pupin Virtual Museum project, which was launched on 29 May 2013, the tribute is paid to the brilliant scientist, inventor, professor, honorary doctor of 18 universities, recipient of many scholarly awards and medals, and honorary consul of Serbia to the US. The visitors have an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the life of the great Serbian scientist through ten sections: a trip through Idvor, a trip to America, his work as a professor and recognition, timeline, autobiography, scientific opus, national and political contributions, legacy to the National Museum, legacy to the University Library and charity work.

The first in a series of visiting exhibitions in the virtual museum at www.mihajlopupin.rs describes the relationship between Pupin and Nikola Tesla, and the visitors will be surprised to learn that it was not a relationship between the competitors, as claimed by many. The www.Idvor.rs website is made available in three languages: Serbian, English and French, to all those who do not have an opportunity to visit the village of Idvor.

“This 3D presentation of the Heritage Complex in the village of Idvor is of particular importance because Pupin himself presented it wherever he went and explained even though the media the position and spirit of his birthplace. This is the first time that Idvor is made visible on the world map“, the vice-chairperson of the Mihajlo Pupin Educational and Research Society and author of the project, Aleksandra Ninkovi?-Taši?, said.

“Idvor is my birthplace though this fact tells very little because it cannot be found on any geographic map », Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, who would probably be proud of the fact that the place through which he used to stroll one and a half centuries ago can now be seen from every point on the globe, used to say.

These are only the first activities on the eve of 2014 which, on the national level, will be marked as Mihajlo Pupin’s year. On this occasion, postage stamps will be printed to commemorate 160 years of his birth. His work will also be included in the programme for the commemoration of the centenary of World War One. »

Taken from Telekom Serbia

Jean Echenoz reçoit le prix Tesla

Jean Echenoz a reçu ce jour, le 04.10.2013, le prix Nikola Tesla en reconnaissance de l’hommage rendu par l’écrivain à Nikola Tesla, héros, sous le nom de Gregor, de son roman Des éclairs. C’est en sa résidence parisienne qu’Aleksandar Protic, président du club UNESCO Sorbonne et fondateur du Tesla Memory Project, a remis le prix à Jean Echenoz.

 

 

 

La première édition du Tesla Global Forum s’est tenue cet été en Serbie au sommet de la Fruska Gora (« la Montagne Française »). Du 12 au 15 septembre 2013 un événement multimédia et multidisciplinaire : forum scientifique, forum culturel et festival de musique, a eu lieu en l’honneur du grand scientifique Nikola Tesla dont les inventions sont inscrites par l’UNESCO en tant que patrimoine mondial de l’humanité dans le registre Mémoire du Monde.

Des spécialistes mondialement reconnus participaient à ce forum que S.E. M. l’ambassadeur de France en Serbie, François-Xavier Deniau, a honoré de sa présence. Des étudiants de l’Institut d’Etudes Politiques, ainsi que de Paris IV Sorbonne ont assisté au forum. L’artiste français Roberto Letan a exposé ses tableaux à cette occasion : un portait de Nikola Tesla a été particulièrement distingué et lui a valu de recevoir un prix.

Pascal Vasseur

Lina Cherrat : article Tesla

Nikola Tesla. Ceux qui le connaissent ont en tête ses indénombrables découvertes et inventions : le courant alternatif, l’amélioration de la distribution de la lumière, le moteur électrique, le laser, la télécommande, le début de la robotique.. Nikola Tesla est l’homme dont les découvertes scientifiques ont  fait entrer l’humanité dans le 21ème siècle.

 Tesla, l’ingénieur, le génie mais n’était-il que cela ?

Cette  image d’homme enfermée dans son laboratoire, semblant indifférent aux enjeux philosophiques et humains correspond-t-telle a la réalité?

 Plus on se plonge dans la vie et les écrits de Tesla plus on découvre un homme qui au-delà d’avoir révolutionné la Science, était d’une humanité incroyable. Tesla fut un défenseur de la Science pour tous, un précurseur du développement durable, un philosophe à la recherche de nouveaux moyens de construire la paix…et tant d’autres choses.

La Science telle que la concevait Tesla se devait d’être loin de toutes préoccupations monétaires. Oubliant souvent de déposer ses brevets d’invention, beaucoup s’approprièrent son travail. Du prix Nobel accordé à Marconi pour la radio, à l’invention du radar attribué entièrement à R Watson-Watt en passant pas Edison considéré à tort comme le père du courant alternatif, les exemples ne manquent pas. Beaucoup ont cherché à décrédibiliser   Tesla. Certains accidents (notamment les coupures de courant qui se sont déroulées en 1899 lorsqu’il expérimentait la terre comme conducteur d’électricité au Colorado) ont pu faire croire que la passion de Tesla pour la Science le rendait indiffèrent à la santé des vies humaines. Ceci est contraire à la réalité, ainsi Tesla interrompu ses expérimentations sur les rayons X considérant que cela présentait trop de danger. En revanche Edison n’hésita pas à continuer ses expérimentations ce qui conduisit à la mort de Clarence Dally, son assistant. Tesla vécu entouré, dépendant même, de businessman, de politiciens, de financiers qui ne recherchaient que le profit. Le rêve de Tesla était de construire une tour immense à New York qui en utilisant la terre comme conducteur aurait pu fournir de l’énergie a l’ensemble de l’humanité gratuitement et sans utiliser de fils électrique. Un jour, ceux qui finançaient la construction  comprirent qu’il n’y aurait aucun moyen de mesurer l’énergie fournie par la tour et de faire des profits. Le projet fut alors abandonné.

 Le texte « the transmission of Electrical energy as a mean of futhering peace » écrit par Tesla révèle la préoccupation du philosophe-scientifique qu’il était, de construire un monde de paix. Il fut l’un des premiers à argumenter pour que la science se concentre sur les armes défensives plutôt qu’offensives ou ce qu’il appelle « the satanique Science of destruction ». De plus dans un monde ou une conception réaliste des relations internationales était encore dominante, il oppose une conception novatrice. Considérant que «  fights between individuals as well as governments and nations invariably result from misunderstanding”, il avance l’idée que la Science est l’outil central au service de la paix.  L’utilisation d’énergie permettant les transports, le télégraphe, le téléphone, la photographie, l’impression de journaux, contribue sans cesse à la diffusion de connaissances pluridisciplinaires. Ceci conduit aussi à ce qu’il appelle l’« annihilation of distance » permettant de rapprocher les hommes et de faciliter une compréhension mutuelle. Tesla, le visionnaire. Son cri du cœur « it is not a dream, it a simple feat of electrical engineering, only expensive-blind, faint hearted, doubting world!” laisse transparaitre à quel point il était un homme trop en avance sur son temps

 Tesla nous a laissé l’héritage de multiples inventions et découvertes .Mais plus que cela il nous a laissé en héritage ses valeurs : l’espoir d’une science pour tous, pas seulement d’une poignée de privilégiée détenant les brevets ou l’argent, l’espoir d’une science en harmonie avec la Nature, celui d’une science qui permettrait de rapprocher les Hommes, l’espoir enfin d’une science dédie au progrès de  l’humanité toute entière.  Cet espoir dont il est l’un des symboles, perdure et se renforce encore aujourd’hui.

Jean Echenoz a propos de Nikola Tesla

Jean Echenoz, Ambassadeur interculruel du Club UNESCO Sorbonne, lauréat des prix Goncourt, Médicis, Fénéon, Prix des vendanges littéraires de Rivesaltes, Meilleurs livres de l’année 1999 du magazine Lire, s’adresse, suite à l’entretien avec Aleksandar Protic, dédié au Festival Tesla  :

« Je ne connais rien à la science, je ne suis qu’un romancier en arrêt devant cette inconnue et qui, pour l’explorer à sa manière, a désiré un jour travailler sur un personnage de savant.

De manière incompréhensible, la figure et l’oeuvre de Nikola Tesla sont trop peu connues en France, contrairement à son immense célébrité aux États-Unis, par exemple.

C’est d’ailleurs un ami américain qui m’a suggéré de m’intéresser à lui et, très vite, les travaux de documentation que j’ai commencé d’entreprendre sur le personnage de Tesla m’ont convaincu que j’avais avec lui la figure scientifique que je recherchais.

Par l’ampleur de ses découvertes, bien sûr, qui est vertigineuse, mais aussi par sa personnalité complexe, sa relation au monde, Nikola Tesla ne pouvait que m’intriguer, me séduire et me déconcerter. Confronté au mystère de ce personnage, et désirant l’intégrer à une «fiction réelle», je n’ai pas résisté à l’idée de lui construire une existence secrète. J’espère que cette vie imaginaire de Nikola Tesla aura pu contribuer à illustrer son éclat. »

Tesla article by Taras S.

STUDENTS ABOUT TESLA

Medium logo, Tesla Memory Project

“An inventor’s endeavor is essentially lifesaving. Whether he harnesses forces, improves devices, or provides new comforts and conveniences, he is adding to the safety of our existence. He is also better qualified than the average individual to protect himself in peril, for he is observant and resourceful.” – Nikola Tesla

“Our first endeavors are purely instinctive prompting of an imagination vivid and undisciplined. As we grow older reason asserts itself and we become more and more systematic and designing. But those early impulses, though not immediately productive, are of the greatest moment and may shape our very destinies.” – Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla invented the 21st century and gave us all opportunity to live a more comfortable life. He changed the world for the benefit of humankind. This enthusiastic tall Serbian invented wireless communication, x-rays, alternating current, the modern electric motor, basic laser and radar technology, neon, robotics, and remote control and cellular technology; all over a century ago. He also contributed towards transportation and flight inventions as well as and modern warfare. While at peak of his glory, Tesla’s experiments were attended by people such as Teddy Roosevelt, Mark Twain, Stanford White, and John Muir. Furthermore, Nikola Tesla electrified the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and also together with his partner George Westinghouse, Tesla created the world’s first hydroelectric system at Niagara Falls. Moreover, Nikola wrote poetry and could speak six languages. He was a perfectionist and expressed himself through supreme discipline. His powerful ideas still exist today and his work is classified and used in most obscure projects.

We live in a world where everyone wants to get rich quickly and live at the speed of light which causes greater pollution and proves how careless human beings are. Just like Tesla I think of the whole world as my native land and I look at all humans with same respect and opportunity to accomplish achievements. Some of this is due to the ways I was raised, but some of this is also due to being inspired by Tesla who created inventions that would be useful to all humans. Tesla is also a person who inspired me to work on an invention that could provide people in Third World countries with clean drinking water. Everything Tesla did was for others, not just himself; and in the end it were the powerful and rich people who stopped some of his inventions at the time, because they wanted to profit from them, and not help improve the human kind. Although some of Tesla’s projects were not completed while he was alive, he taught of everyone many years in the future and therefore, he is remembered and is an inspiration for many.

“Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs, but the future for which I have really worked, is mine” – Nikola Tesla

Taras Stojkovic

Griffith University, Australia

Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Canada

Ajinkya Sathe : Tesla article

STUDENTS ABOUT TESLA

Medium logo, Tesla Memory Project

Nikola Tesla once said “Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine”. Trying to understand how influential he was in the world that we live in more than 60 years after his death, I started to think about his contributions. And then I was surprised.

The paper on which this article is printed and the inks that you are reading, are made in automated paper manufacturing processes and dye manufacturing factories. Who made the first “robot”, defined on Google as “A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically”? It was Tesla. Oh is it dark and the ink not bright enough to read this easily? Don’t worry, use a light bulb. Who made the first bulb? Thomas Edison. Oh but he fought with Tesla during the era of the famous “War of the Currents” and did not allow Tesla to use his product, and hence Tesla ended up making a bulb out of his own design which ended up being more efficient than Edison’s. Well, but what about the electricity needed to give in the energy to the bulb to illuminate? Don’t worry. Tesla got that covered too. With his AC (Alternating Current) electric motor, he made the transmission of electric currents over long distances possible. And of course, the previously mentioned industries are functioning because of the same current. And the list of the things influenced by Tesla to a common man, goes on and on. Needless to say, deciding what to write is a problem of plenty and truly a challenging task.

I was first introduced about Tesla through an online comic from The Oatmeal. Myself pursuing engineering, I couldn’t be less shameful to know absolutely nothing about Tesla apart from that magnetic field strength had its unit as Tesla. Yes, it meant that he was important person. Only the likes of Isaac Newton, James Prescott Joule, Lord Kelvin, Michael Faraday, etc. had their names used as SI units. But then the story of the enormity of Tesla was something never told. It was this comic that got me curious to know about Nikola Tesla. Then thanks to the internet, I read more about Tesla and his experiments. Oh by the way, Tesla has his hands dipped in the field of long-distance broadcasting and communication lines too. The first person to achieve successful radio transmission Guglielmo Marconi, applied Tesla’s ideas and published work into constructing the first radio. The more I learnt about Tesla, the more I was spellbound by his genius, and the more I felt ashamed of not knowing about his work despite having a deep interest for science. But then it’s truly said, “better late than never”.

Ajinkya Digambar Sathe

Columbia University, New York

Ajinkya Digambar Sathe

Tesla Memory Project translated to Italien

Tesla Memory Project translated to Italien thanks to Bojan Arandjelovic (La Sapienza University in Italy) :

L’obiettivo del progetto “Alla memoria di Tesla”,  è quello di aumentare la consapevolezza:

– della vita e dell’opera di Nikola Tesla

– dell’Importanza globale della scienza

– del patrimonio mondiale

Nikola Tesla, uno dei più grandi scienziati del mondo, è spesso considerato come « L’uomo che ha inventato il XX secolo, ora modellante del XXI secolo ». Il suo impatto sul mondo moderno è enorme, i prodotti del suo genio si possono trovare nella vita quotidiana. Nikola Tesla esemplifica una forza unificante e fonte di ispirazione per tutte le nazioni in nome della pace e della scienza. Era un autentico visionario molto più avanti rispetto ai suoi contemporanei nel campo dello sviluppo scientifico.

Archivio di Nikola Tesla consiste in una collezione unica di manoscritti, fotografie, documentazione scientifica e di brevetto che è indispensabile per lo studio della storia dell’elettrificazione di tutto il globo. Nikola Tesla, (1856 – 1943) di origine serba, inventore e scienziato americano, un pioniere nell’elettrificazione, influenzò in modo significativo lo sviluppo tecnologico della nostra civiltà con le sue invenzioni del sistema polifase. Questo sistema è la base di produzione moderna elettro-energetica, di trasmissione a lunga distanza e di utilizzo di energia elettrica e comunicazione.

Dall’inizio del suo sfruttamento verso la fine del secolo scorso fino ad oggi, il sistema polifase, con il motore asincrono, è stato perfezionato e migliorato in misura eccezionale e finora inimmaginabile.

Lui è considerato uno scienziato molto fantasioso le cui idee portarono verso molte scoperte importanti senza le quali la nostra civiltà sarebbe stata priva di molti dei suoi comfort tecnologici (radio, radar, televisione, motori di tutti i tipi, campi ad alta frequenza, bobine, computer). Alcune delle sue idee sono ancora da realizzare.

È stato uno dei primi a prendere coscienza del problema energetico emergente (1900), frutto della conclusione dei suoi famosi esperimenti a Colorado Springs (1899-1900).

In suo onore, l’unità di induzione magnetica (Tesla) del sistema SI porta il suo nome. In poche parole, la collezione documenta l’epoca più importante della storia dello sviluppo del mondo moderno, che, grazie al sistema di Tesla, rese possibile la produzione e distribuzione di energia.

Tesla story dedicated to Pola Fotitch

« A STORY OF YOUTH TOLD BY AGE »

DEDICATED TO MISS POLA FOTITCH

BY  NIKOLA TESLA

« My dear Miss Fotitch:

I am forwarding to you the « Calendar of Yugoslavia » of 1939 showing the house and community in which I had many joyful and sad experiences and odd adventures and in which also, by a coincidence bizarre, I was born. As you may see from the photograph on the sheet for June, the old-fashioned building is located at the foot of a wooded hill called Bogdanic. Adjoining it is a church and behind it a little further up a graveyard. Our nearest neighbors were two miles away and in the winter, when the snow was six or seven feet deep, our isolation was complete.

My mother was indefatigable and worked regularly from four o’clock in the morning till eleven in the evening. From four to breakfast time, 6 A.M., while others slumbered, I never closed my eyes but watched my mother with intense pleasure as she attended quickly – sometimes running – to her many self-imposed duties. She directed the servants to take care of all domestic animals, milked the cows, performed all sorts of labor unassisted, set the table, prepared breakfast for the whole household and only when it was ready to be served did the rest of the family get up. After breakfast everybody followed by mother’s inspiring example. All did their work diligently, liked it and so achieved a measure of contentment. But I was the happiest of them, the fountain of my enjoyment being our magnificent Ma?ak – the finest of all cats in the world. I wish that I could give you an adequate idea of the depth of affection which existed between me and him. You would look vainly in the mythological and historical records for such a case. We simply lived one for the other. Wherever I went Ma?ak followed primarily owing to our mutual love and then again moved by the desire to protect me. When such a necessity presented itself he would rise to twice his normal height, buckle his back and with the tail as rigid as a metal bar and whiskers like steel wires he would give vent to his rage by explosive puffs Pfftt! Pfftt! It was a terrifying sight and whatever provoked him, human being or animal, beat a hasty retreat.

In the evening we went through our usual program. I would run from the house along the church and he would rush after me and grab me by the trousers. He tried hard to make me believe that he would bite, but the instant his needle sharp incisors penetrated the clothing the pressure ceased and their contact with my skin was as gentle and tender as that of a butterfly alighting on a petal. He liked best to roll on the grass with me. While we were doing this he bit and clawed and purred in rapturous pleasure. He fascinated me so completely that I too bit and clawed and purred. We just could not stop and rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled in a delerium of delight. We indulged in this enchanting sport day by day except on rainy weather. In respect to water Ma?ak was very fastidious. He would jump six feet to avoid wetting his paws. On such occasions we went into the house and, selecting a nice cosy place, abandoned ourselves for each other in affectionate embracement. Ma?ak was scrupulously clean, had no fleas or bugs whatever, shed no hair and showed none of the objectionable traits and habits of cats as I knew them later. He was touchingly delicate in signifying his wish to be let out at night and scratched the door gently for readmittance.

Now I must tell you of a strange and unforgettable experience which bore fruit in my later life. Our home is about eighteen hundred feet above sea level and in the winter we had dry weather as a rule, but sometimes it happened that a warm wind from the Adriatic would blow persistently for a long time, melting rapidly the snow, flooding the land and causing great loss of property and life. We would then witness the terrifying spectacle of a mighty seething river carrying wreckage and tearing down everything moveable in its way. Since I often visualize the events of my youth to find relief from great and dangerous mental strain and when I think of the scene the roar of the waters fills my ears and I see as vividly as then, their tumultuous flow and the mad dance of the wreckage. This leaves me, for a while, sad and depressed. But always agreeable are my recollections of winter with its dry cold and snow of immaculate white.

It happened that on the day of my experience we had a cold drier than ever observed before. People walking in the snow left a luminous trail behind them and a snowball thrown against an obstacle gave a flare of light like a loaf of sugar hit with a knife. It was dusk of the evening and I felt impelled to stroke Ma?ak’s back. Ma?ak’s back was a sheet of light and my hand produced a shower of sparks loud enough to be heard all over the place. My father was a very learned man, he had an answer for every question. But this phenomenon was new even to him. Well, he finally remarked, this is nothing but electricity, the same thing you see on the trees in a storm. My mother seemed alarmed. Stop playing with the cat, she said, he might start a fire. I was thinking abstractedly. Is nature a gigantic cat? If so, who strokes its back? It can only be God, I concluded. You may know that Pascal was an extraordinarily precocious child who attracted attention before he reached the age of six years. But here I was, only three years old, and already philosophising!

I can not exaggerate the effect of this marvellous sight on my childish imagination. Day after day I asked myself what is electricity and found no answer. Eighty years have gone by since and I still ask the same question, unable to answer it. Some pseudo scientist of whom there are only too many may tell you that he can, but do not believe him. If any of them knew what it is I would also know and the chances are better than any of them for my laboratory and practical experiences are more extensive and my life covers three generations of scientific research.

My childhood in Ma?ak’s delightful company and undying friendship would have passed blissfully if I did not have a powerful enemy, relentless and irreconcilable. This was our gander, a monstrous ugly brute, with a neck of an ostrich, mouth of a crocodile and a pair of cunning eyes radiating intelligence and understanding like the human. I aroused his ire by throwing pebbles at him, a most foolish and reckless act which I bitterly regretted afterwards. I liked to feed our pigeons, chickens, and other fowl, take one or the other under my arm and hug and pet it. But the brute would not let me. The moment I entered the poultry yard he would attack me and as I fled grab me by the seat of my trousers and shake me viciously. When I finally managed to free myself and run away he would flap his huge wings in glee and raise an unholy chatter in which all the geese joined. When I grew up two aunts of mine used to tell me how I answered certain questions they asked. One was Aunt Veva who had two protruding teeth like the tusks of an elephant. She loved me passionately and buried them deep in my cheek in kissing me. I cried out from pain but she thought it was from pleasure and dug them in still deeper. Nevertheless I preferred her to the other aunt whose name has slipped from my memory and she used to glue her lips to mine and suck and suck until by frantic efforts I managed to free myself gasping for breath. These two aunts amused themselves by asking me all sorts of questions of which I remember a few. Are you afraid of Luka Bogic? No! Luka always carried a gun and threatened to shoot. He robbed other boys of pennies and gave them to me. Are you afraid of the cow? No !’ That was one of our cows and very nice until one day I slid from a fence on her back for a ride when she made off with me bellowing and threw me. I was none the worse for the experience. Are you afraid of the bad wolf? No! No! This was the wolf I met in the woods near the church. He was looking at me fixedly and approaching slowly. I shouted as usual when a wolf is around and he trotted away slowly. My present visualization of this scene is astonishingly sharp and clear. After a number of such questions one of the aunts asked me; Are you afraid of the gander? Yes! Yes! I replied emphatically, I am afraid of the gander! I had good reason to be. One summer day my mother had given me a rather cold bath and put me out for a sun warming in Adam’s attire. When she stepped in the house the gander espied me and charged. The brute knew where it would hurt most and seized me by the nape almost pulling out the remnant of my umbilical cord. My mother, who came in time to prevent further injury, said to me: « You must know that you can not make peace with a gander or a cock whom you have taunted. They will fight you as long as they live. » But now and then I would play in the poultry yard to my heart’s content for on certain days our geese, led by the gander, rose high in the air and flew down to the meadow and brook where they sported like swans in the water and probably found some food. I would then feed and pet the pigeons, the poultry and our grand resplendant cock who liked me. In the evening the gander brought back his flock who made a few turns above the house and then came down with a deafening noise. The sight of the flying geese was a joy and inspiration to see. »

Rastko Project

Dragana Dasha Djukic at New York International Tesla Conference

I presented at the Tesla Memorial Conference in New York City on behalf of UNESCO Club at Sorbonne University.  The purpose of my presentation was to introduce the Club’s Tesla Memory Project to the international audience of business professionals, engineers and scholars, all of whom were experts in the fields closely related to Tesla’s line of work.

Additionally – in the spirit of UNESCO’s commitment to sustainable peace and development and in line with my academic research on regional political stability and peace-building – I presented about Tesla’s studies on the possibilities of international peace by the means of wireless transmission of electrical energy.

In the below picture, I am reading an excerpt published by Tesla in 1905 in The Electrical World and Engineer. The slide reads as follows:

“Our senses enable us to perceive only a minute portion of the outside world. Our hearing extends to a small distance. Our sight is impeded by intervening bodies and shadows. To know each other we must reach beyond the sphere of our sense perceptions. We must transmit our intelligence, travel, transport the materials, and transfer the energies necessary for our existence. Following this thought, we now realize, forcibly enough to dispense with argument, that of all other conquests of man, without exception, that which is most desirable and which would be most helpful in the establishment of universal peaceful relations is – the complete ANNIHILATION OF DISTANCE. To achieve this wonder, electricity is the one and only means.” (Electrical World and Engineer, January 7, 1905, pp. 21-24)

 Dragana Dasha Djukic

Dragana Dasha Djukic on behalf of UNESCO Club Sorbonne

IEEE Nikola Tesla Award in honor of great inventor

The IEEE Nikola Tesla Award was established in 1975 through an agreement between the IEEE Power Engineering Society and the IEEE Board of Directors.

The Award is named in honor of Nikola Tesla, an electrical engineer, a distinguished Yugoslav-American inventor, and a pioneer in many fields, who is most renowned for the development of the coil that bears his name and the a-c induction motor.

Recipient selection is administered through the Technical Field Awards Council of the IEEE Awards Board.

Read more about the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award here

Club UNESCO Sorbonne at The Tesla Memorial Conference in New York

 

The Tesla Memorial Conference & Tesla Spirit Awards Benefit

 

January 5 – 7, 2013 @ New Yorker Hotel, New York City :

 

The world’s brightest minds, scientists, engineers, alternative energy entrepreneurs, innovation experts, artists and a myriad of Tesla enthusiasts  gathered for this 3 day Tesla extravaganza to honor Tesla’s legacy, 70 years since his passing on January 7th, 1943, in the New Yorker Hotel. This unique Tesla forum  included a diverse array of Tesla-related lectures, presentations, discussions and documented evidence of growing interest and recognition of Tesla’s contribution to the 20th and 21st Century.

Many eminent persons participated in the Conference including the President of the United Nations General Assembly.

UNESCO Club Sorbonne was represented by Dragana Dasha Djukic who presented the Tesla Memory Project  in front of  a distinguished audience.

 

President of the United Nations General Assembly at the Tesla Conference

United Nations Assembly President praised Nikola Tesla

President of the United Nations General Assembly( during the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly) Vuk Jeremic, about Nikola Tesla :

Tesla Spirit Awards Benefit Reception
January 5th, New Yorker Hotel, New York

« Your Royal Highness, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank our hosts, the Tesla Science Foundation, for having invited me to address the Tesla Spirit Award Reception.

It is a great honor and a very special privilege for me.

This organization is owed a big debt of gratitude for being at the forefront of efforts to keep alive the memory of this remarkable man and his extraordinary contributions to humanity.

I believe there is no better place for us to gather in celebration of his life and works than here in the New Yorker Hotel, where he spent the last ten years before his death on January 7th, 1943—Christmas Day, according to the liturgical calendar observed by his native Serbian Orthodox Church.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Nikola Tesla is probably best known for his work in refining alternating current, or AC, as the most efficient and safest way to transmit electrical power. In the 1890s, he worked with General Electric to install AC generators at Niagara Falls, creating the world’s first modern hydro-electric power station.

Tesla was a prolific inventor and ceaseless innovator. Before the end of the 19th century, he had built electric oscillators and motors, developed light bulbs, and invented a high-voltage transformer known as the Tesla coil.

Perhaps less well-known is his pioneering work in X-ray technology—or his groundbreaking research into wireless communication. In 1898 at the Electrical Exhibition held in Madison Square Garden, just a couple of blocks from here, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat in a pool—predating the work of Marconi. It is worth noting that in 1947, the United States Supreme Court finally credited Tesla as the inventor of the radio.

A little over a decade later, the Tesla unit of measurement for magnetic flux density was introduced, which notably drew further attention to the achievements of the “Man who Illuminated the Planet”—as some have taken to calling him.

More recently, individuals associated with the establishment of the Tesla Science Foundation have greatly helped to promote awareness of his work.

Such efforts were advanced in 2003, when the Serbian Government submitted our nation’s Nikola Tesla Archive to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. The unique collection of manuscripts, photographs and science and patent documentation, is an indispensable tool for those who wish to learn about the contributions Tesla made to modern society.

Today, his memory is honored by monuments on both sides of the US-Canada border at Niagara Falls. New York State has proclaimed his birthday—July 10th—Nikola Tesla Day. This city has designated the southwest side of Bryant Park as “Nikola Tesla Corner.” His life is being fictionalized in a major motion picture, which is due to be released next year. Funding is also being secured to buy and restore his laboratory on a neglected 16-acre site on Long Island, so that a museum may be built there. And a company manufacturing up-market electric cars has been named after him.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Some of you may know that I read physics at the University of Cambridge, England. When we were studying electro-magnetism, my professor began one of his lectures by referring to Tesla as “an eccentric Austro-Hungarian scientist.” I immediately raised my hand to correct that. “Tesla,” I said, “was not Austro-Hungarian—there is no such thing. He was Serbian.”

I must admit that I was not the brightest physicist of Cambridge, so the professor was somewhat skeptical of the veracity of my intervention.

At the start of our next session, however, he admitted that I had been correct—which didn’t happen very often.

Tesla, he remarked, was in fact Serbian. He did look it up, discovering also that his father had been a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church.

For me, his Serbian heritage remains more than a biographical detail, for I strongly believe Nikola Tesla personifies some of the most positive features of Serbian national identity. His life stands as a testament to the fact that even if one comes from a most humble background, from a small place on the map like the Balkans, ability, hard work and perseverance may very well be enough to make one’s vision a reality.

I believe that Tesla may actually serve as a role model for our nation, which in the process of defining its place in a transforming world—a symbolic bridge between the past we came from, the unresolved issues we are confronting, and the future we seek to build for the generations to come.

Already, Serbia honors his legacy in several important ways. We named Belgrade International Airport after him, imprinted his portrait on our 100 dinar bill, and erected a statue of him in front of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of Belgrade University.

We are justifiably proud of his discoveries and inventions, which effectively ushered the world into the modern era. Every time we switch on a light, plug in a computer, or use a cell phone, we should remember Tesla.

However, it is not only his incredible achievements that deserve to be celebrated, but his indomitable spirit—his quest to innovate, and his determination to challenge accepted norms and creatively push beyond present limits.

During his lifetime, Tesla often had to contend with what he described as a “blind, faint-hearted doubting world.”

In the face of formidable challenges, he never faltered. Tesla always found the courage to act according to his own convictions, propelled by a hope that beckoned him on in times of trial and adversity.

His strength of character and steadfastness of purpose remains an inspiration to all who possess the fortitude to persevere—to stay the course—when the odds seem to be stacked against them.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As proud as he was of his Serbian roots, Tesla’s writings permeate a deeply-felt global conscience. Allow me to quote him: “Though free to think and act, we are held together, like the stars in the firmament, with ties inseparable.”

In this very hotel, a few months before his death at the height of World War Two, Tesla reflected on the bloody conflict that had engulfed his homeland. Not only were his compatriots a tragic victim of the Nazis and their fascist allies like the Ustasa—but so was all of Europe, together with much of the rest of the world.

He focused his attention not only on the carnage taking place—on the millions of lives lost—but on the sort of peace that would follow the cessation of hostilities. He felt strongly that the rules governing international relations would have to be re-written to account for the aspiration to justice of all nations—that this was indispensable to setting the world on a more secure, equitable and prosperous path.

In one of his notebooks, written in 1942, he scribbled a remarkable paragraph that in my view perfectly encapsulates the vision of the United Nations’ founders—which close to seven decades later, remains a work in progress.

I would like to read the quotation in full: “Out of this war, the greatest since the beginning of history, a new world must be born, a world that would justify the sacrifices offered by humanity,” Tesla wrote. “This new world must be [one] in which there shall be no exploitation of the weak by the strong, of the good by the evil; where there will be no humiliation of the poor by the violence of the rich; where the products of intellect, science and art will serve society for the betterment of peaceful life for all mankind, and not the individuals for achieving selfish wealth. This new world,” he concluded, “shall not be a world of the downtrodden and humiliated, but of free men and free nations, equal in dignity and respect for man.”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

One of the bodies established by the United Nations Charter in 1945 was the General Assembly—the UN’s chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ.

The prerogative of the President of the General Assembly is to choose topics for thematic debates on international issues which, in his judgment, merit significant attention.

I decided to organize a critically important one in early summer, entitled “Climate Change, Green Energy, and Water Sustainability.” It will be done in partnership with the United Arab Emirates and the newly established United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network—spearheaded by the Director of its Secretariat, Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University.

It will aim to increase political awareness and support for the benefits of embracing the paradigm shift to renewable, low-carbon energy systems.

Perhaps it will be during this thematic debate where the spirit of Nikola Tesla will be felt most directly.

Back in 1931, he wrote a paper entitled “Our Future Motive Power”—likely the first article to refer to the “specter of exhaustion of our fuel stores that is looming threateningly in the distance.” It not only predicted the consequences of a future global energy crisis, but emphasized the critical importance of technological innovation in the energy field as the best way to overcome hydrocarbon dependence.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Nikola Tesla’s life reminds us that every significant achievement begins as an idea in the mind’s eye before it becomes a reality—and that every great endeavor, rises from a commitment not to resign oneself to accept the beliefs of the majority as an unquestionable fact.

He stands as the embodiment of a spirit shared by the noblest and freest of men throughout history, who chose to conduct themselves in unqualified dedication to the pursuit of knowledge through discovery.

Let his unfathomable will and quiet self-confidence in the face of skepticism and mistrust remain an example to all who have the audacity to rise beyond the noise and rush of the common opinions of the day—the innovators and the risk-takers, the true inheritors of his great legacy.

Thank you for your attention. »

Tesla à l’Espace Reuilly / Mairie du XII arrondissement de Paris

TESLA DANS L’ART

 Tesla u rukama mladih Francuza

L’exposition Tesla dans l’Art fait partie du projet TESLA MEMORY PROJECT du Club UNESCO de l’Université Sorbonne.  L’inauguration à l’Espace Reuilly de la Mairie du XII arrondissement de Paris le 8 décembre 2012 s’inscrit symboliquement dans l’optique du partage de connaissances à un niveau local. Qui plus est, la Journée des droits de l’Homme concorde avec le droit à la mémoire et au respect envers Tesla, un génie qui a consacré toute sa vie à l’humanité.

D’une part, cette exposition est le résultat de l’impact du grand Tesla, qui ne laisse personne indifférent : il inspire les scientifiques, les philosophes, les hommes de lettre,  les défenseurs de la paix,  des droits de l’homme, de la nature et des animaux et bien de personnes qui témoignent cela de manière différentes.

D’autre part, c’est le résultat de la créativité des artistes qui rendent hommage à un homme d’importance considérable, et du lien que Tesla crée avec l’art et avec les artistes. Le Club UNESCO Sorbonne est très fier de pouvoir présenter les travaux de grande qualité, rassemblant des expressions différentes dans une même synergie profonde et esthétiquement remarquable.

Conseil Universitaire FFCU

 

 

Tesla’s poetry at the 6th International Poetry Festival in Paris

 

At the 20 arrondissement City Hall in Paris, UNESCO Clubs French Federation was represented by two persons : Claude Vielix, FFCU Vice-president and Aleksandar Protic FFCU Federal Counselor for the 6th International Poetry Festival in Paris. Claude Vielix talked about FFCU engagement and role in contemporary society, as well as in cultural activities. Aleksandar Protic informed the audience about the Tesla Memory Project and about Tesla’s scientific poetry. Both FFCU representatives met several poets came from all over the world to celebrate this Festival in Paris. Morii Kae read her poetry dedicated to peace and development in Fukushima. She offred to a FFCU a peace necklace, symbol from japaneese tradition. Aleksandar Protic in the name of UNESCO Club Sorbonne together with Morii Kae and Lana Rebecca March gathered to promote peace through poetry.

Tesla’s scientific poetry

 

 

Tesla wrote, in the late 1920s, a poem  Fragments of Olympian Gossip dedicated to « the scientific establishment of the day ».

 

 

Fragments of Olympian Gossip 

While listening on my cosmic phone
I caught words from the Olympus blown.
A newcomer was shown around;
That much I could guess, aided by sound.

There’s Archimedes with his lever
Still busy on problems as ever.
Says: matter and force are transmutable
And wrong the laws you thought immutable.

Below, on Earth, they work at full blast
And news are coming in thick and fast.
The latest tells of a cosmic gun.
To be pelted is very poor fun.
We are wary with so much at stake,
Those beggars are a pest—no mistake.

Too bad, Sir Isaac, they dimmed your renown
And turned your great science upside down.
Now a long haired crank, Einstein by name,
Puts on your high teaching all the blame.
Says: matter and force are transmutable
And wrong the laws you thought immutable.

I am much too ignorant, my son,
For grasping schemes so finely spun.
My followers are of stronger mind
And I am content to stay behind,
Perhaps I failed, but I did my best,
These masters of mine may do the rest.
Come, Kelvin, I have finished my cup.
When is your friend Tesla coming up.

Oh, quoth Kelvin, he is always late,
It would be useless to remonstrate.
Then silence-shuffle of soft slippered feet-
I knock and-the bedlam of the street.

The oldest Balkan newspaper Politika about TESLA MEMORY PROJECT

The oldest Balkan newspaper Politika about TESLA MEMORY PROJECT presented in UNESCO Headquarters on 05/10/2012

The  objective of the TESLA Memory Project, initiated by Aleksandar Protic, president of UNESCO Club at Sorbonne University and the director of Intercultural Forum, is to increase awareness of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, global importance of science and life and work of Nikola Tesla.

Nikola Tesla, one of the world’s greatest scientists, is often considered as “The Man who invented the 20th century, now shaping the 21st century”. His impact on the modern world is enormous, products of his genius can be found in everyday life. Nikola Tesla exemplifies a unifying force and inspiration for all nations in the name of peace and science. He was an authentic visionary far ahead of his contemporaries in the field of scientific development. This is why UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register consideres Tesla’s inventions archives as a heritage of mankind.

Politika link to this article :

www.politika.rs/rubrike/kultura-i-zabava/Predavanje-o-Tesli-u-sedistu-UNESKO-u-Parizu.lt.htmla

TESLA Project and Memory of the World Register : lecture at UNESCO by Aleksandar Protic

Aleksandar Protic, president of UNESCO Club at Sorbonne University, and Federal Counselor  at the French Federation of UNESCO Clubs, presented  TESLA MEMORY PROJECT at UNESCO Headquarters teaching about The Memory of the World Register. French Federation of UNESCO Clubs organized on October 5th 2012 a one-day specialized program « LEARN MORE ABOUT UNESCO » in UNESCO Headquarters .

Lectures were provided by FFCU-FEACU : Aleksandar Protic (FFCU) Danièle Seigneuric (FFCU) and Lionel Vinour (FEACU) ; and UNESCO officers : Ana Dumitrescu (Culture), Cecilia Golden (MOST), Christine Morel Vasquez (DOC), Sylvie Cochet (DOCEdu).

The  objective of the TESLA Memory Project, initiated by Aleksandar Protic, president of UNESCO Club at Sorbonne University and the director of Intercultural Forum, is to increase awareness of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, global importance of science and life and work of Nikola Tesla.

Nikola Tesla, one of the world’s greatest scientists, is often considered as “The Man who invented the 20th century, now shaping the 21st century”. His impact on the modern world is enormous, products of his genius can be found in everyday life. Nikola Tesla exemplifies a unifying force and inspiration for all nations in the name of peace and science. He was an authentic visionary far ahead of his contemporaries in the field of scientific development. This is why UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register consideres Tesla’s inventions archives as a heritage of mankind.

Projet TESLA à l’ UNESCO pour célébrer la Journée mondiale de l’Enseignant

 

FORMATION  « MIEUX CONNAITRE l’UNESCO »

réalisée par la

FEDERATION FRANCAISE DES CLUBS UNESCO

VENDREDI 5 OCTOBRE, SIEGE DE L’UNESCO

 

 

 

PROGRAMME

 

 

Matin :  UNESCO  1 rue Miollis 75015 Paris

Accueil à partir de 9h

9h30 à 10h30 : Ouverture et présentation générale de l’UNESCO : historique, structure, rôle normatif par Danièle Seigneuric (FFCU) et Lionel Vinour (FEACU)

10h30 à 11h15 : Secteur Culture avec Anna Dumitrescu (UNESCO CLT)

11h15 à 12h : Programme MOST avec Cecilia Golden

12h-13h15 : Projet TESLA – Mémoire du Monde avec Aleksandar Protic (FFCU)

***

Après – midi : UNESCO  7 place de Fontenoy 75015 Paris

13h15 à 14h30 : repas

15h à 15h30 : visite guidée

15h30 à 16h : Centre de documentation avec Christine Morel Vasquez (UNESCO)

16h à 17h : Présentation des ressources pédagogiques au Centre de documentation Education avec Sylvie Cochet (UNESCO)

17h à 17h30 : Bilan et suggestions

 

President Obama about Nikola Tesla as inventor who helped make America what it is

 

Obama’s Immigration Speech at the American University School of International Service, Washington D.C. on July 1, 2010.

President Barack Obama gave his first speech devoted to laying out his case for an overhaul of immigration laws since he became president.

Here is the official transcript released by the White House:

July 1, 2010
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM
American University School of International Service
Washington, D.C.
11:12 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:

« Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Everyone please have a seat. Thank you very much. Let me thank Pastor Hybels from near my hometown in Chicago, who took time off his vacation to be here today. We are blessed to have him.

I want to thank President Neil Kerwin and our hosts here at American University; acknowledge my outstanding Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, and members of my administration; all the members of Congress — Hilda deserves applause. (Applause.) To all the members of Congress, the elected officials, faith and law enforcement, labor, business leaders and immigration advocates who are here today — thank you for your presence.

I want to thank American University for welcoming me to the campus once again. Some may recall that the last time I was here I was joined by a dear friend, and a giant of American politics, Senator Edward Kennedy. (Applause.) Teddy’s not here right now, but his legacy of civil rights and health care and worker protections is still with us.

I was a candidate for President that day, and some may recall I argued that our country had reached a tipping point; that after years in which we had deferred our most pressing problems, and too often yielded to the politics of the moment, we now faced a choice: We could squarely confront our challenges with honesty and determination, or we could consign ourselves and our children to a future less prosperous and less secure.

I believed that then and I believe it now. And that’s why, even as we’ve tackled the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, even as we’ve wound down the war in Iraq and refocused our efforts in Afghanistan, my administration has refused to ignore some of the fundamental challenges facing this generation.

We launched the most aggressive education reforms in decades, so that our children can gain the knowledge and skills they need to compete in a 21st century global economy.

We have finally delivered on the promise of health reform -– reform that will bring greater security to every American, and that will rein in the skyrocketing costs that threaten families, businesses and the prosperity of our nation.

We’re on the verge of reforming an outdated and ineffective set of rules governing Wall Street -– to give greater power to consumers and prevent the reckless financial speculation that led to this severe recession.

And we’re accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy by significantly raising the fuel-efficiency standards of cars and trucks, and by doubling our use of renewable energies like wind and solar power — steps that have the potential to create whole new industries and hundreds of thousands of new jobs in America.

So, despite the forces of the status quo, despite the polarization and the frequent pettiness of our politics, we are confronting the great challenges of our times. And while this work isn’t easy, and the changes we seek won’t always happen overnight, what we’ve made clear is that this administration will not just kick the can down the road.

Immigration reform is no exception. In recent days, the issue of immigration has become once more a source of fresh contention in our country, with the passage of a controversial law in Arizona and the heated reactions we’ve seen across America. Some have rallied behind this new policy. Others have protested and launched boycotts of the state. And everywhere, people have expressed frustration with a system that seems fundamentally broken.

Of course, the tensions around immigration are not new. On the one hand, we’ve always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants — a nation that welcomes those willing to embrace America’s precepts.

Indeed, it is this constant flow of immigrants that helped to make America what it is. The scientific breakthroughs of Albert Einstein, the inventions of Nikola Tesla, the great ventures of Andrew Carnegie’s U.S. Steel and Sergey Brin’s Google, Inc. – all this was possible because of immigrants… »

Speech can be found at the Washington Wire (click here for full speech transcript):

 

 

Tesla’s article on light and other high frequency phenomena

On light and other high frequency phenomena 

(Lecture before Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Feb. 1893); Journal of Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, (July 1893); National Electrical Light Association Proceedings, St. Louis, (1893).

Delivered before the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, February 1893,
and before the National Electric Light Association, St. Louis, March 1893.

INTRODUCTORY

« When we look at the world around us, on Nature, we are impressed with its beauty and grandeur.  Each thing we perceive, though it may be vanishingly small, is in itself a world, that is, like the whole of the universe, matter and force governed by law,—a world, the contemplation of which fills us with feelings of wonder and irresistibly urges us to ceaseless thought and inquiry.  But in all this vast world, of all objects our senses reveal to us, the most marvelous, the most appealing to our imagination, appears no doubt a highly developed organism, a thinking being.  If there is anything fitted to make us admire Nature’s handiwork, it is certainly this inconceivable structure, which performs its innumerable motions of obedience to external influence.  To understand its workings, to get a deeper insight into this Nature’s masterpiece, has ever been for thinkers a fascinating aim, and after many centuries of arduous research men have arrived at a fair understanding of the functions of its organs and senses.  Again, in all the perfect harmony of its parts, of the parts which constitute the material or tangible of our being, of all its organs and senses, the eye is the most wonderful.  It is the most precious, the most indispensable of our perceptive or directive organs, it is the great gateway through which all knowledge enters the mind.  Of all our organs, it is the one, which is in the most intimate relation with that which we call intellect.  So intimate is this relation, that it is often said, the very soul shows itself in the eye.

It can be taken as a fact, which the theory of the action of the eye implies, that for each external impression, that is, for each image produced upon the retina, the ends of the visual nerves, concerned in the conveyance of the impression to the mind, must be under a peculiar stress or in a vibratory state, It now does not seem improbable that, when by the power of thought an image is evoked, a distinct reflex action, no matter how weak, is exerted upon certain ends of the visual nerves, and therefore upon the retina.  Will it ever be within human power to analyse the condition of the retina when disturbed by thought or reflex action, by the help of some optical or other means of such sensitiveness, that a clear idea of its state might be gained at any time?  If this were possible, then the problem of reading one’s thoughts with precision, like the characters of an open book, might be much easier to solve than many problems belonging to the domain of positive physical science, in the solution of which many, if not the majority: of scientific men implicitly believe.  Helmholtz has shown that the fundi of the eye are themselves, luminous, and he was able to see, in total darkness, the movement of his arm by the light of his own eyes.  This is one of the most remarkable experiments recorded in the history of science, and probably only a few men could satisfactorily repeat it, for it is very likely, that the luminosity of the eyes is associated with uncommon activity of the brain and great imaginative power.  It is fluorescence of brain action, as it were. »

Read the full article here

Tesla : chemin vers la paix

« Nous avons tous besoin d’un idéal pour diriger notre vie et assurer notre sérénité, peu importe qu’il soit basé sur une religion, un art, une science ou toute autre chose, pourvu qu’elle remplisse les fonctions d’une force immatérielle.

Il est capital de faire prévaloir une conception commune pour que l’humanité, en tant que tout, vive dans la paix. »   Mes Inventions

***

« Nous arrivons à la fin d’un siècle qui a connu plus de bouleversements que tous les siècles précédents réunis. Les progrès de la science ont amélioré considérablement les conditions de vie de l’humanité.

Et pourtant, malgré toutes les promesses des scientifiques, le monde dans lequel nous vivons est au bord de la rupture, il se dirige à une vitesse phénoménale vers une situation de catastrophe. L’explosion démographique, la destruction de l’environnement, des forêts tropicales et tempérées, l’augmentation de gaz carbonique dans l’atmosphère, la pollution de l’eau ne sont que quelques aspects qui nous font frémir.Nous avons atteint un seuil critique. Nous en sommes tous pleinement conscients.

A ceci s’ajoutent des tensions politiques et militaires, qu’on tente d’expliquer par des différences de conceptions politiques, économiques ou culturelles. La véritable raison en est pourtant la répartition inégale des richesses.»

Conférence à l’American Institute of electrical Engineers de New York 20/5/1891

TESLA Trans-disciplinary Project in The National School of Chemistry, Physics and Biology

TESLA Trans-disciplinary Project in The National School of Chemistry, Physics and Biology (Paris, France)

 

 

Thanks be given to Tesla Memory Project Member Professor Pascal Vasseur who implemented the project, to director Jean-claude Lafay, who authorized and helped the project and Professors Martine Gueye-Bussy and Valéry Travet, during  school year 2010-2011, students had the opportunity to learn about Tesla in diverse disciplines including physics, chemistry, literature and English language.

Details about the project are available in French language (PROJET INTERDISCIPLINAIRE TESLA).

 

Why Transdisciplinarity ?

 

Despite numerous attempts to stem social and scientific disparities, they continue to grow being increasingly recognized as national and international’s education priority.

The origins of these disparities are multidimensional, and as such a comprehensive approach to understanding and ultimately mitigating them must involve interactions across traditional academic boundaries; however, the formal curricula in most graduate programs provide little opportunity for or instruction in trans-disciplinary thinking or interaction.

A charter on Transdisciplinarity was adopted at a World Congress in 1994 :

“Transdisciplinarity a posteriori complements disciplinary approaches as the transdisciplinary approach goes beyond the exact sciences and proposes dialogue with the humanities and the social sciences. The recognition of the existence of different levels of perception governed by different types of logic is inherent in the transdisciplinary attitude.”

 

 

PROJET INTERDISCIPLINAIRE TESLA

PREAMBULE

Au cours de l’année scolaire 2010-2011, un projet interdisciplinaire a été

mené au lycée Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Ecole Nationale de Chimie, Physique et

Biologie). La mise en place de la réforme du lycée, et notamment le dispositif

d’accompagnement personnalisé, a favorisé la réalisation du projet. Deux

professeurs impliqués dans le projet, le professeur de physique-chimie et le

professeur de lettres, étaient déjà associés dans le cadre de cet accompagnement.

 

ORIGINE

L’idée du projet est née à la faveur de la publication, à l’automne 2010, du

roman de Jean Echenoz, Des éclairs. Même si le héros de cette vie imaginaire

s’appelle Gregor, chacun y aura reconnu la figure de Nikola Tesla.

 

OBJECTIF

L’objectif était de permettre aux élèves d’approfondir leur culture scientifique

tout en l’articulant avec la démarche littéraire. Dans un lycée à dominante

scientifique, il me semblait opportun de ne pas opposer les deux cultures, mais au

contraire de les lier.

 

COMPOSANTES DU PROJET

Le projet a été proposé à toute l’équipe pédagogique, mais tous ne pouvaient

s’y inscrire. D’autant plus que j’ai proposé le projet assez tard dans l’année : au

début du printemps. Certains, comme Hugues Templier, professeur de Sciences de

l’ingénieur, ont manifesté leur intérêt, sans pouvoir s’y impliquer directement.

Le projet s’est donc articulé autour de trois disciplines et trois professeurs :

– Martine Gueye-Bussy pour la physique-chimie ;

– Valéry Travet pour l’anglais ;

– Pascal Vasseur, pour les lettres.

Trois actions ont été réalisées :

– visite-exposé au palais de la Découvert autour de l’électromagnétisme ;

– deux conférences autour de Tesla : Aleksandar Protic en cours d’anglais et

Boris Petrovic en cours de français ;

– lecture du roman par des élèves volontai res et synthèse en

accompagnement personnalisé.

 

BILAN

Je laisserai à mes collègues le soin d’établir un bilan dans leurs disciplines

respectives, mais voici en deux mots ce que je retiens pour le français.

A] pour les élèves

 

1) Succès certain du roman. J’avais acquis cinq exemplaires du roman qui ont

circulé en classe : les élèves étaient tous demandeurs et ont parfaitement joué le

jeu (lire le roman en une semaine). Il faut souligner qu’il s’agissait d’une classe

assez faible et fort peu littéraire, mais précisément le fait de leur offrir une image de

la littérature non plus seulement comme véhiculant les thèmes traditionnels, mais

capable de s’ouvrir aux mondes technique et scientifique les a séduits. Leur

engouement s’explique sans doute aussi par la proximité du roman : roman

contemporain s’il en est, puisque paru en 2010.

2) Renouveau de l’image du héros : le génie scientifique peut s’incarner dans

un héros de roman.

3) L’accompagnement personnalisé proposé en 2010-11 pour la première fois

a, semble-t-il, bénéficié de ce projet : les élèves lui ont trouvé un sens, alors que

les tentatives du début de l’année leur semblaient moins concluantes.

B] pour les professeurs

Intérêt de l’interdisciplinarité : l’équipe pédagogique, très unie face une classe

difficile, s’est trouvée renforcée par la réalisation de ce projet.

 

PERSPECTIVES

Il pourrait être profitable de faire

connaître le projet dans d’autres lycées pour, le cas échéant, être repris par les équipes

pédagogiques. Il me semblerait opportun de prendre contact avec la Délégation

Académique aux Arts et à la Culture (DAAC) de l’académie de Paris.

Une autre piste serait d’accroître la coopération avec l’UNESCO, notamment

avec ses spécialistes de programme du Secteur des sciences exactes et

naturelles, Division des sciences fondamentales et de l’ingénierie.

Une troisième piste enfin serait d’associer le club UNESCO de Fontenay-aux-

Roses, animé par Suzanne Faye, professeur de physique en classes

préparatoires. Celle-ci mène un travail de vulgarisation de la culture scientifique

dans les établissements scolaires.

 

Prof Pascal Vasseur

High level meeting on Sustainable Developement

UNESCO Club Sorbonne had the honor and a pleasure to participate in

  

 

Oceans at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) 

 Building ocean and coastal sustainability and greening the Blue Economy

 

meeting held in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 1st November 2011 during the 36th UNESCO General Conference.

 

As the year 2012 will be the year of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, this Side event was first organized in order to inform Member States and meeting participants on the objectives and issues that will be negotiated at Rio+20 conference, from an ocean perspective.

 Secondly, meeting brought attention on initiatives taken by UNESCO/IOC, and other UN agencies (UNDP, IMO, FAO) to underline the role of oceans in sustainable development, including in the formulation of key proposals that could be agreed by Member States at Rio. Finally, a forum for Member States to present their perspectives on key ocean issues and national preparation for Rio+20, had been provided.

Approximately 60 persons were present at the side event, which was opened by Ms Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General. Introduction by Executive Secretary of   Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission presented the Rio+20 process and the UN Document ‘Blueprint for ocean and coastal sustainability’.

Several Member States Representatives elocution followed as well as those of representatives of UN Agencies, Funds and Programs. The side event ended by an interactive and constructive discussion.

 

Tesla Symposium held at Simon Fraser University

The International Symposium « Tesla Day at SFU 2006 » was held at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby Campus, on Friday, November 17, 2006, in celebration of the 150th anniversary from the birth of one the greatest inventors, scientists, and engineers of 20th century, Nikola Tesla.

Tesla Day at SFU 2006 aims to foster exchange and collaboration among researchers in the fields pioneered and initiated by the research and legacy of Nikola Tesla. Invited lecturers will present reviews, tutorials, and address future research trends in scientific and engineering fields. « Tesla Day at SFU 2006 » is unique symposium on the West Coast commemorating Tesla’s achievements and one of several events planned by the Tesla Organizing Committee in Vancouver.

The symposium is intended for researchers and graduate students in engineering, computer science, physical sciences, and applied mathematics, as well as professional engineers. Invited speakers are internationally recognized experts in their fields. The symposium will be held in conjunction with a traveling exhibit from the Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

Read more here

Tesla ON CURRENT INTERRUPTERS

ON CURRENT INTERRUPTERS

by Nikola Tesla

Electrical Review – March 15, 1899

« To stimulate the ardor of the zealous experimenters, who believe in the revolutionary character of this discovery, it might be well to suggest one or two such simple devices for interrupting the current.  For instance, a very primitive contrivance of this kind comprises a poker – yes, an ordinary poker, connected by means of a flexible cable to one of the mains of the generator, and a bathtub filled with conducting fluid which is connected in any suitable manner, through the primary of an induction coil, to the other pole of the generator.  When the experimenter desires to take a Roentgen picture, he brings the end of the poker to white heat, and, thrusting the same into the bathtub, he will at once witness an astonishing phenomenon; the seething and boiling liquid making and breaking the current in rapid succession, and the powerful rays generated will at once convince him of the great practical value of this discovery.  I might further suggest that the poker may be conveniently heated by means of a welding machine.

Another device, entirely automatic, and probably suitable for use in suburban districts, comprises two insulated metal plates, supported in any convenient manner, in close proximity to each other.  These plates are connected through the primary of an induction coil with the terminals of a generator, and are bridged by two movable contacts joined by a flexible cable.  The two contacts are both attached to the legs of a good-sized chicken standing astride on the plates.  Heat being applied to the latter, muscular contractions are produced in the legs of the chicken, which thus makes and breaks the current through the induction coil.  Any number, of such chickens may be provided and the contacts connected in series or multiple arc, as may be desired, thus, increasing the frequency of the impulses.  In this manner fierce sparks, suitable for most purposes, may be obtained, and vacuum tubes may be operated, and these contrivances will be found a notable improvement on certain circuit-breakers of old, with which two enterprising editors undertook some years ago to revolutionize the systems of electric lighting.  The enterprising editors, are wiser now.  They are to be congratulated, and their readers, scientific societies and the profession, all ought to be congratulated, and – « all is well that ends well. » The observant experimenter will not fail to note that the fierce sparks frighten the chickens, which are thus put into more violent spasms and muscular contractions, this again increasing the fierceness of the sparks, which, in return, causes a greater fright of the chickens and increased speed of interruptions; it is, in fact, as Kipling says:

« Interdependence absolute, foreseen, ordained, decreed,
To work, ye’ll note, as any tilt an’ every rate o’speed. »

But to return, in all earnestness, to the « electrolytic interrupter » described, this is a device with which I am perfectly familiar, having carried on extensive experiments with the same two or three years ago.  It was one of many devices which I invented in my efforts to produce an economical contrivance of this kind.  The name is really not appropriate, inasmuch as any fluid, either conducting or made so in any manner, as by being rendered acid or alkaline, or by being heated, may be used.  I have even found it possible, under certain conditions, to operate with mercury.  The device is extremely simple, but the great waste of energy attendant upon its operation and certain other defects make it entirely unsuitable for any valuable, practical purpose, and as far as those instances are concerned, in which a small amount of energy is needed, much better results are obtained by a properly designed mechanical circuit-breaker.  The experimenters are very likely deceived by finding that an induction coil gives longer sparks when this device is inserted in place of the ordinary break, but this is due merely to the fact that the break is not properly designed.  Of the total energy supplied from the mains, scarcely one-fourth is obtainable of that amount, which a well constructed mechanical break furnishes in the secondary, and although I have designed many improved forms, I have found it impossible to increase materially the economy.  Two improvements, however, which I found at that time necessary to introduce, I may mention for the benefit of ‘those who are using the device.  As will be readily noted, the small terminal is surrounded by a gaseous bubble, in which the makes and breaks are formed, ‘:generally in an irregular manner, by the liquid being driven towards the terminal at some point.  The force which drives the liquid is evidently the pressure of the fluid column, and by increasing the fluid pressure in any manner the liquid is forced with greater speed towards the terminal and thus the frequency is increased.  Another necessary improvement was to make a provision for preventing the acid or alkali from being carried off into the atmosphere, which always happens more or less, even if the liquid column be of some height.  During my early experiments with the device, I became so interested in it that I neglected this precaution, and I noted that the acid had attacked all the apparatus in my laboratory.  The experimenter will conveniently carry out both of these improvements by taking a long glass tube of, say, six to eight feet in length, and arranging the interrupting device close to the bottom of the tube, with an outlet for eventually replacing the` liquid.  The high column will prevent the fumes from vitiating the atmosphere of the room, and the increased pressure will add materially to the effectiveness of the performance.  If the liquid column be,.  say, nine times as high, the force driving the fluid towards the contact is nine times as great, and this force is capable, under the same conditions, of driving the fluid three times as fast, hence the frequency is increased in that ratio and, .in fact, in a somewhat greater ratio, as the gaseous bubble, being compressed, is rendered smaller, and therefore the liquid is made to travel through a smaller distance.  The electrode, of course, should be very small :to insure the regularity of operation, and it is not necessary to use platinum.  The pressure may, however, be increased in other ways, and I have obtained some results of interest, in experiments of this kind.

As before stated, the device is very wasteful, and, while it, may be used in some instances, I consider it of little or no practical value.  It will please me to be convinced of the contrary; but I do not think that I am erring.  My chief reasons for this statement are that there are many other ways in which by far better results are obtainable with are equally simple, if not more so.  I may mention one here, based on a different principle which is incomparably more effective, more efficient and also simpler on the whole.  It comprises a fine stream of conducting fluid which is made to issue, with any desired speed, from an orifice connected with one pole of a generator, through the primary of the induction coil, against the other terminal of the generator placed at a small distance.  This device gives discharges of a remarkable suddenness, and the frequency may be brought within reasonable limits, almost to anything desired.  I have used this device for a long time in connection with ordinary coils and in a form of my own coil with results greatly superior in every respect to those obtainable with the form of device discussed. »

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Nikola Tesla : the father of sustainable development

Nikola Tesla : the father of sustainable development

Much before World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), the Brundtland Commission’s, The Centre for Our Common Future and Rio Declaration on Environment and Development – before 1900, Nikola Tesla revolutionarily saw that definitions of sustainable development required that we observe the world as a system that connects space and as a system that connects time. Tesla fought for development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.


Over more, in his amazing article The Problem of Increasing Human energy » published in Century Illustrated Magazine in June 1900, Tesla opens a new chapter in humankind: the Energy (http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1900-06-00.htm).

Originality and prophetic role of Tesla could also be analyzed through the concept of the article “The Power of the Future” written around 1920 :

Those who are concerned about the future had stopped long time ago to see energy only as a means of ensuring personal comfort and security; they attach to it a national, international and humanitarian significance. Not only that, the idea that our resources belong to the generations that will come is slowly born, and thoughts of engineers and inventors turn to better methods, which will not have to do with the barbaric use of energy like at the moment and which will eventually lead to the depletion of our stocks. This is why various kind of sensational announcements about new energy sources cause such a hysterical interest and readily grasp. But only one among a thousand, even among the professionals, may separate the wheat from the chaff.”

Aleksandar Protic

ON THE DISSIPATION OF THE ELECTRICAL ENERGY OF THE HERTZ RESONATOR

ON THE DISSIPATION OF THE ELECTRICAL ENERGY OF THE HERTZ RESONATOR

by Nikola Tesla

The Electrical Engineer — December 21, 1892

« Anyone who, like myself, has had the pleasure of witnessing the beautiful demonstrations with vibrating diaphragms which Prof. Bjerknes, exhibited in person at the Paris Exposition in 1880, must have admired his ability and painstaking care to such a degree, as to have an almost implicit faith in the correctness of observations made by him.  His experiments « On the Dissipation of the Electrical Energy of the Hertz Resonator, » which are described in the issue of Dec. 14, of THE ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, are prepared in the same ingenious and skillful manner, and the conclusions drawn from them are all the more interesting as they agree with the theories put forth by the most advanced thinkers.  There can not be the slightest doubt as to the truth of these conclusions, yet the statements which follow may serve to explain in part the results arrived at in a different manner; and with this object in view I venture to call attention to a condition with which, in investigations such as those of Prof. Bjerknes, the experimenter is confronted.

The apparatus, oscillator and resonator, being immersed in air, or other discontinuous medium, there occurs—as I have pointed out in the description of my recent experiments before the English and French scientific societies—dissipation of energy by what I think might be appropriately called electric sound waves or sound-waves of electrified air.  In Prof. Bjerknes’s experiments principally this dissipation in the resonator need be considered, though the sound-waves—if this term be permitted—which emanate from the surfaces at the oscillator may considerably affect the observations made at some distance from the latter.  Owing to this dissipation the period of vibration of an air-condenser can not be accurately determined, and I have already drawn attention to this important fact.  These waves are propagated at right angles from the charged surfaces when their charges are alternated, and dissipation occurs, even if the surfaces are covered with thick and excellent insulation.  Assuming that the « charge » imparted to a molecule or atom either by direct contact or inductively is proportionate to the electric density of the surface, the dissipation should be proportionate to the square of the density and to the number of waves per second.  The above assumption, it should be stated, does not agree with some observations from which it appears that an atom can not take but a certain maximum charge; hence, the charge imparted may be practically independent of the density of the surface, but this is immaterial for the present consideration.  This and other points will be decided when accurate quantitative determinations, which are as yet wanting, shall be trade.  At present it appears certain from experiments with, high-frequency currents, that this dissipation of energy from a wire, for instance, is not very far from being proportionate to the frequency of the alternations, and increases very rapidly when the diameter of the wire is made exceedingly small.  On the latter point the recently published results of Prof. Ayrton and H. Kilgour on « The Thermal Emissivity of Thin Wires in Air » throw a curious light.  Exceedingly thin wires are capable of dissipating a comparatively very great amount of energy by the agitation of the surrounding air, when they are connected to a source of rapidly alternating potential.  So in the experiment cited, a thin hot wire is found to be capable of emitting an extraordinarily great amount of heat, especially at elevated temperatures.  In the case of a hot wire it must of course be assumed that the increased emissivity is due to the more rapid convection and not, to any, appreciable degree, to an increased radiation.  Were the latter demonstrated, it would show that a wire, made hot by the application of heat in ordinary ways, behaves in some respects like one, the charge of which is rapidly alternated, the dissipation of energy per unit of surface kept at a certain temperature depending on the curvature of the surface.  I do not recall any record of experiments intended to demonstrate this, yet this effect, though probably very small, should certainly be, looked for.

A number of observations showing the peculiarity, of very thin wires were made in the course of my experiments.  I noted, for instance, that in the well-known Crookes instrument the mica vanes are repelled with comparatively greater force when the incandescent platinum wire is exceedingly thin.  This observation enabled me to produce the spin of such vanes mounted in a vacuum tube when the latter was placed in an alternating electrostatic field.  This however does not prove anything in regard to radiation, as in a highly exhausted vessel tile phenomena are principally due to molecular bombardment or convection.

When I first undertook to produce the incandescence of a wire enclosed in a bulb, by connecting it to only one of the terminals of a high tension transformer, I could not succeed for a long time.  On one occasion I had mounted in a bulb a thin platinum wire, but my apparatus was not adequate to produce the incandescence.  I made other bulbs, reducing the length of the wire to a small fraction; still I did not succeed.  It then occurred to me that it would be desirable to have the surface of the wire as large as possible, yet the bulk small, and I provided a bulb with an exceedingly thin wire of a bulk about equal to that of the short but much thicker wire.  On turning the current on the bulb the wire was instantly fused.  A series of subsequent experiments showed that when the diameter of the wire was exceedingly small, considerably more energy would be dissipated per unit surface at all degrees of exhaustion than was to be expected, even on the assumption that the energy given off was in proportion to the square of the electric density.  There is likewise evidence which, though not possessing the certainty of an accurate quantitative determination, is nevertheless reliable because it is the result of a great many observations, namely, that with the increase of the density the dissipation is more rapid for thin than for thick wires.

The effects noted in exhausted vessels with high-frequency currents are merely diminished in degree when the air is at ordinary pressure, but heating and dissipation occurs, as I have demonstrated, under the ordinary atmospheric conditions.  Two very thin wires attached to the terminals of a high-frequency coil are capable of giving off an appreciable amount of energy.  When the density is very great, the temperature of the wires may be perceptibly raised, and in such case probably the greater portion of the energy which is dissipated owing to the presence of a discontinuous medium is transformed into heat at the surface or in close proximity to the wires.  Such heating could not occur in a medium possessing either of the two qualities, namely, perfect incompressibility or perfect elasticity.  In fluid insulators, such as oils, though they are far from being perfectly incompressible or elastic to electric displacement, the heating is much smaller because of the continuity of the fluid.

When the electric density of the wire surfaces is small, there is no appreciable local heating, nevertheless energy is dissipated in air, by waves, which differ from ordinary sound-waves only because the air is electrified.  These waves are especially conspicuous when the discharges of a powerful battery are directed through a short and thick metal bar, the number of discharges per second being very small.  The experimenter may feel the impact of the air at distances of six feet or more from the bar, especially if be takes the precaution to sprinkle the face or hands with ether.  These waves cannot be entirely stopped by the interposition of an insulated metal plate.

Most of the striking phenomena of mechanical displacement, sound, heat and light which have been observed, imply the presence of a medium of a gaseous structure that is one consisting of independent carriers capable of free motion.

When a glass plate is placed near a condenser the charge of which is alternated, the plate emits a sound.  This sound is due to the rhythmical impact of the air against the plate.  I have also found that the ringing of a condenser, first noted by Sir William Thomson, is due to the presence of the air between or near the charged surfaces.

When a disruptive discharge coil is immersed in oil contained in a tank, it is observed that the surface of the oil is agitated.  This may be thought to be due to the displacements produced in the oil by the changing stresses, but such is not the case.  It is the air above the oil which is agitated and causes the motion of the latter; the oil itself would remain at rest.  The displacements produced in it by changing electrostatic stresses are insignificant; to such stresses it may be said to be compressible to but a very small degree.  The action of the air is shown in a curious manner for if a pointed metal bar is taken in the hand and held with the point close to the oil, a hole two inches deep is formed in the oil by the molecules of the air, which are violently projected from the point.

The preceding statements may have a general bearing upon investigations in which currents of high frequency and potential are made use of, but they also have a more direct bearing upon the experiments of Prof. Bjerknes which are here considered, namely, the « skin effect, » is increased by the action of the air.  Imagine a wire immersed in a medium, the conductivity of which would be some function of the frequency and potential difference but such, that the conductivity increases when either or bout of these elements are increased.  In such a medium, the higher the frequency and potential difference, the greater wilt be the current which will find its way through the surrounding medium, and the smaller the part which will pass through the central portion of the wire: In the case of a wire immersed in air and traversed by a high-frequency current, the facility with which the energy is dissipated may be considered as the equivalent of the conductivity; and the analogy would be quite complete, were it not that besides the air another medium is present, the total dissipation being merely modified by the presence of the air to an extent as yet not ascertained.  Nevertheless, I have sufficient evidence to draw the conclusion, that the results obtained by Prof. Bjerknes are affected by the presence of air in the following manner: 1. The dissipation of energy is more rapid when the resonator is immersed in air than it would be in a practically continuous medium, for instance, oil.  2. The dissipation owing to the presence of air renders the difference between magnetic and non-magnetic metals more striking.  The first conclusion follows directly from the preceding remarks; the second follows front the two facts that the resonator receives always the same amount of energy, independent of the nature of the metal, and that the magnetism of the metal increases the impedance of the circuit.  A resonator of magnetic metal behaves virtually as though its circuit were longer.  There is a greater potential difference set up per unit of length; although this rosy not show itself in the deflection of the electrometer owing to the lateral dissipation.  The effect of the increased impedance is strikingly illustrated in the two experiments of Prof. Bjerknes when copper is deposited upon an iron wire, and next iron upon a copper wire.  Considerable thickness of copper deposit was required in the former experiment, but very little thickness of iron in the latter, as should be expected.

Taking the above views, I believe, that in the experiments of Prof. Bjerknes which lead him to undoubtedly correct conclusions, the air is a factor fully as important, if not more so, than the resistance of the metals. »

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TESLA’S NEW DISCOVERY (The Sun, New York)

TESLA’S NEW DISCOVERY

The Sun, New York, January 30, 1901

Capacity of Electrical Conductors is Variable, Not Constant, and Formulas Will Have to Be Rewritten — Capacity Varies With Absolute Height Above Sea Level, Relative Height From Earth and Distance From the Sun

Nikola Tesla announced yesterday another new discovery in electricity. This time it is a new law and by reason of it, Mr. Tesla asserts, a large part of technical literature will have to be rewritten. Ever since anything has been known about electricity, scientific men have taken for granted that the capacity of an electrical conductor is constant. When Tesla was experimenting in Colorado he found out that this capacity is not constant—but variable. Then he determined to find out the law governing this phenomenon. He did so, and all this he explained to The Sun yesterday. Here is what he said:

« Since many years scientific men engaged in the study of physics and electrical research have taken it for granted that certain quantities, entering continuously in their estimates and calculations, are fixed and unalterable. The exact determination of these quantities being of particular importance in electrical vibrations, which are engrossing more and more the attention of experimenters all over the world, it seems to be important to acquaint others with some of my observations, which have finally led me to the results now attracting universal attention. These observations, with which I have long been familiar, show that some of the quantities referred to are variable and that, owing to this, a large portion of the technical literature is defective. I shall endeavor to convey the knowledge of the facts I have discovered in plain language, devoid as much as possible of technicalities. »

« It is well known that an electric circuit compacts itself like a spring with a weight attached to it. Such a spring vibrates at a definite rate, which is determined by two quantities, the pliability of the spring and the mass of the weight. Similarly an electric circuit vibrates, and its vibration, too, is dependent on two quantities, designated as electrostatic capacity and inductance. The capacity of the electric circuit corresponds to the pliability of the spring and the inductance to the mass of the weight. »

« Exactly as mechanics and engineers have taken it for granted that the pliability of the spring remains the same, no matter how it be placed or used, so electricians and physicists have assumed that the electrostatic capacity of a conducting body, say of a metallic sphere, which is frequently used in experiments, remains a fixed and unalterable quantity, and many scientific results of the greatest importance are dependent on this assumption. Now, I have discovered that this capacity is not fixed and unalterable at all.  On the contrary, it is susceptible to great changes, so that under certain conditions it may amount to many times its theoretical value, or may eventually be smaller. Inasmuch as every electrical conductor, besides possessing an inductance, has also a certain amount of capacity, owing to the variations of the latter, the inductance, too, is seemingly modified by the same causes that tend to modify the capacity. These facts I discovered some time before I gave a technical description of my system of energy transmission and telegraphy without wires, which, I believe, became first known through my Belgian and British patents. »

« In this system, I then explained, that, in estimating the wave-length of the electrical vibration in the transmitting and receiving circuits, due regard must be had to the velocity with which the vibration is propagated through each of the circuits, this velocity being given by the product of the wave-length and the number of vibrations per second. The rate of vibration being, however, as before stated, dependent on the capacity and inductance in each case, I obtained discordant values. »

« Continuing the investigation of this astonishing phenomenon I observed that the capacity varied with the elevation of the conducting surface above the ground and I soon ascertained the law of this variation. The capacity increased as the conducting surface was elevated, in open space, from one-half to three-quarters of 1 percent per foot of elevation. In buildings, however, or near large structures, this increase often amounted to 50 percent per foot of elevation, and this alone will show to what extent many of the scientific experiments recorded in technical literature are erroneous. In determining the length of the coils or conductors such as I employ in my system of wireless telegraphy, for instance, the rule which I have given is, in view of the above, important to observe. »

« Far more interesting, however, for men of science is the fact I observed later, that the capacity undergoes an annual variation with a maximum in summer, and a minimum in winter. In Colorado, where I continued with improved methods of investigations begun in New York, and where I found the rate of increase slightly greater, I furthermore observed that there was a diurnal variation with a maximum during the night. Further, I found that sunlight causes a slight increase in capacity. The moon also produces an effect, but I do not attribute it to its light. »

« The importance of these observations will be better appreciated when it is stated that owing to these changes of a quantity supposed to be constant an electrical circuit does not vibrate at a uniform rate, but its rate is modified in accordance with the modifications of the capacity. Thus a circuit vibrates a little slower at an elevation than when at a lower level. An oscillating system, as used in telegraphy without wires, vibrates a little quicker when the ship gets into the harbor than when on open sea.  Such a circuit oscillates quicker in the winter than in the summer, though it be at the same temperature, and a trifle quicker at night than in daytime, particularly if the sun is shining. »

« Taking together the results of my investigations I find that this variation of the capacity and consequently of the vibration period is evidently dependent, first, on the absolute height above sea level, though in a smaller degree; second, on the relative height of the conducting surface or capacity with respect to the bodies surrounding it; third, on the distance of the earth from the sun, and fourth, on the relative change of the circuit with respect to the sun, caused by the diurnal rotation of the earth. These facts may be of particular interest to meteorologists and astronomers, inasmuch as practical methods of inquiry may result from these observations, which may be useful in their respective fields. It is probable that we shall perfect instruments for indicating the altitude of a place by means of a circuit, properly constructed and arranged, and I have thought of a number of other uses to which this principle may be put. »

« It was in the course of investigations of this kind in Colorado that I first noted certain variations in electrical systems arranged in peculiar ways. These variations I first discovered by calculating over the results I had previously noted, and it was only subsequently that I actually perceived them. It will thus be clear that some who have ventured to attribute the phenomena I have observed to ordinary atmospheric disturbances have made a hasty conclusion. »

Colorado Springs

Oct. 23, 1899

Photo from RADIOTECHNICA, Muzej Nikole TesleExperiments to further ascertain the influence of elevation upon capacity. 

The coil referred to on a previous occasion was finished with exactly 689 turns on a drum of eight feet in length and 14″ diam. The wire used was cord No. 20 as before stated so that the approximate estimate of self-induction and other particulars holds good. The coil was set up upright outside of the building at some distance to reduce any errors due to the influence of the woodwork. From the building extended a structure of dry pine to a height of about sixty feet from the ground. This framework supported, on a projecting crossbeam, a pulley (wood) with cord for pulling up a ball or other object to any desired height within the limits permitted and this beam also carried on its extreme end and close to the pulley a strong glass bottle within which was fastened a bare wire No. 10, which extended vertically downward to the top of the coil. The bottle was an ordinary Champagne bottle, from which the wine had been poured out! and the bottom broken in. It was forced neck downward into a hole bored into the beam and fastened besides with a cord. A tapering plug of hard wood was wedged into the neck and into this plug was fastened the wire. The bottle was finally filled with melted wax.

The whole arrangement is illustrated in the sketch shown in which b is the bottle with wooden plug p supported on beam B also carrying pulley p, over which passes the cord for pulling up the object, which in this case is shown as the sphere C. The spheres used were of wood and hollow and covered very smoothly with tin foil and any points of the foil were pressed in so as to be below the surface of the sphere. . . .

[Colorado Springs Notes, pp. 235, 236]

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PHENOMENA OF ALTERNATING CURRENTS OF VERY HIGH FREQUENCY

PHENOMENA OF ALTERNATING CURRENTS OF VERY HIGH FREQUENCY

by Nikola Tesla

« Electrical journals are getting to be more and more interesting.  New facts are observed and new problems spring up daily which command the attention of engineers.  In the last few numbers of the English journals, principally in the Electrician there have been several new matters brought up which have attracted more than usual attention.  The address of Professor Crookes has revived the interest in his beautiful and skillfully performed experiments, the effect observed on the Ferranti mains has elicited the expressions of opinion of some of the leading English electricians, and Mr. Swinburne has brought out some interesting points in connection with condensers and dynamo excitation.

The writer’s own experiences have induced him to venture a few remarks in regard to these and other matters, hoping that they will afford some useful information or suggestion to the reader.

Among his many experiments Professor Crookes shows some performed with tubes devoid of internal electrodes, and from his remarks it must be inferred that the results obtained with these tubes are rather unusual.  If this be so, then the writer must regret that Professor Crookes, whose admirable work has been the delight of every investigator, should not have availed himself in his experiments of a properly constructed alternate current machine – namely, one capable of giving, say 10,000 to 20,000 alternations per second.  His researches on this difficult but fascinating subject would then have been even more complete.  It is true that when using such a machine in connection with an induction coil the distinctive character of the electrodes -which is desirable, if not essential, in many experiments – is lost, in most cases both the electrodes behaving alike; but on the other hand, the advantage is gained that the effects may be exalted at will.  When using a rotating switch or commutator the rate of change obtainable in the primary current is limited.  When the commutator is more rapidly revolved the primary current diminishes, and if the current be increased, the sparking, which cannot be completely overcome by the condenser, impairs considerably the virtue of the apparatus.  No such limitations exist when using an alternate current machine as any desired rate of change may be produced in the primary current.  It is thus; possible to obtain excessively high electromotive forces in the secondary circuit with a comparatively small primary current; moreover, the perfect regularity in the working of the apparatus may be relied upon.

The writer will incidentally mention that any one who attempts for the first time to construct such a machine will have a tale of woe to tell.  He will first start out, as a matter of course, by making an armature with the required number of polar projections.  He will then get the satisfaction of having produced an apparatus which is fit to accompany a thoroughly Wagnerian opera.  It may besides possess the virtue of converting mechanical energy into heat in a nearly perfect manner.  If there is a reversal in the polarity of the projections, he will get heat out of the machine; if there is no reversal, the heating will be less, but the output will be next to nothing.  He will then abandon the iron in the armature, and he will get from the Scylla to the Charybdis.  He will look for one difficulty and will find another, but, after a few trials, he may get nearly what he wanted.

Among the many experiments which may be performed with such a machine, of not the least interest are those performed with a high-tension induction coil.  The character of the discharge is completely changed.  The arc is established at much greater distances, and it is so easily affected by the slightest current of air that it often wriggles around in the most singular manner.  It usually emits the rhythmical sound peculiar to the alternate current arcs, but the curious point is that the sound may be heard with a number of alternations far above ten thousand per second, which by many is considered to be, about the limit of audition.  In many respects the coil behaves like a static machine.  Points impair considerably the sparking interval, electricity escaping from them freely, and from a wire attached to one of the terminals streams of light issue, as though it were connected to a pole of a powerful Toepler machine.  All these phenomena are, of course, mostly due to the enormous differences of potential obtained.  As a consequence of the self-induction of the coil and the high frequency, the current is minute while there is a corresponding rise of pressure.  A current impulse of some strength started in such a coil should persist to flow no less than four ten-thousandths of a second.  As this time is greater than half the period, it occurs that an opposing electromotive force begins to act while the current is still flowing.  As a consequence, the pressure rises as in a tube filled with liquid and vibrated rapidly around its axis.  The current is so small that, in the opinion and involuntary experience of the writer, the discharge of even a very large coil cannot produce seriously injurious effects, whereas, if the same coil were operated with a current of lower frequency, though the electromotive force would be much smaller, the discharge would be most certainly injurious.  This result, however, is due in part to the high frequency.  The writer’s experiences tend to show that the higher the frequency the greater the amount of electrical energy which may be passed through the body without serious discomfort; whence it seems certain that human tissues act as condensers.

One is not quite prepared for the behavior of the coil when connected to a Leyden jar.  One, of course, anticipates that since the frequency is high the capacity of the jar should be small.  He therefore takes a very small jar, about the size of a small wine glass, but he finds that even with this jar the coil is practically short-circuited.  He then reduces the capacity until he comes to about the capacity of two spheres, say, ten centimetres in diameter and two to four centimetres apart.  The discharge then assumes; the form of a serrated band exactly like a succession of sparks viewed in a rapidly revolving mirror; the serrations, of course, corresponding to the condenser discharges.  In this case one may observe a queer phenomenon.  The discharge starts at the nearest points, works gradually up, breaks somewhere near the top of the spheres, begins again at the bottom; and so on.  This goes on so fast that several serrated bands are seen at once.  One may be puzzled for a few minutes, but the explanation is simple enough.  The discharge begins at the nearest points; the air is heated and carries the arc upward until it breaks, when it is re-established at the nearest points, etc.  Since the current passes easily through a condenser of even small capacity, it will be found quite natural that connecting only one terminal to a body of the same size, no matter how well insulated, impairs considerably the striking distance of the arc.

Experiments with Geissler tubes are of special interest.  An exhausted tube, devoid of electrodes of any kind, will light up at some distance from the coil.  If a tube from a vacuum pump is near the coil the whole of the pump is brilliantly lighted.  An incandescent lamp approached to the coil lights up and gets perceptibly hot.  If a lamp have the terminals connected to one of the binding posts of the coil and the hand is approached to the bulb, a very curious and rather unpleasant discharge from the glass to the hand takes place, and the filament may become incandescent.  The discharge resembles to some extent the stream issuing from the plates of a powerful Toepler machine, but is of incomparably greater quantity.  The lamp in this case acts as a condenser, the rarefied gas being one coating, the operator’s hand the other.  By taking the globe of a lamp in the hand, and by bringing the metallic terminals near td or in contact with a conductor connected to the coil, the carbon is brought to bright incandescence and the glass is rapidly heated.  With a 100-volt 10 c.p.  lamp one may without great discomfort stand as much current as will bring the lamp to a considerable brilliancy; but it can be held in the hand only for a few minutes, as the glass is heated in an incredibly short time.  When a tube is lighted by bringing it near to the coil it may be made to go out by interposing a metal plate on the hand between the coil and tube; but if the metal plate be fastened to a glass rod or otherwise insulated, the tube may remain lighted if the plate be interposed, or may even increase in luminosity.  The effect depends on the position of the plate and tube relatively to the coil, and may be always easily foretold by assuming that conduction takes place from one terminal of the coil to the other.  According to the position of the plate, it may either divert from or direct the current to the tube.

In another line of work the writer has in frequent experiments maintained incandescent lamps of 50 or 100 volts burning at any desired candle power with both the terminals of each lamp connected to a stout copper wire of no more than a few feet in length.  These experiments seem interesting enough, but they are not more so than the queer experiment of Faraday, which has been revived and made much of by recent investigators, and in which a discharge is made to jump between two points of a bent copper wire.  An experiment may be cited here which may seem equally interesting.

If a Geissler tube, the terminals of which are joined by a copper wire, be approached to the coil, certainly no one would be prepared to see the tube light up.  Curiously enough, it does light up, and, what is more, the wire does not seem to make much difference.  Now one is apt to think in the first moment that the impedance of the wire might have something to do with the phenomenon.  But this is of course immediately rejected, as for this an enormous frequency would be required.  This result, however, seems puzzling only at first; for upon reflection it is quite clear that the wire can make but little difference.  It may be explained in more than one way, but it agrees perhaps best with observation to assume that conduction takes place from the terminals of the coil through the space.  On this assumption, if the tube with the wire be held in any position, the wire can divert little more than the current which passes through the space occupied by the wire and the metallic terminals of the tube; through the adjacent space the current passes practically undisturbed.  For this reason, if the tube be held in any position at right angles to the line joining the binding posts of the coil, the wire makes hardly any difference, but in a position more or less parallel with that line it impairs to a certain extent the brilliancy of the tube and its facility to light up.  Numerous other phenomena may be explained on the same assumption.  For instance, if the ends of the tube be provided with washers of sufficient size and held in the line joining the terminals of the coil, it will not light up, and then nearly the whole of the current, which would otherwise pass uniformly through the space between the washers, is diverted through the wire.  But if the tube be inclined sufficiently to that line, it will light up in spite of the washers.  Also, if a metal plate be fastened upon a glass rod and held at right angles to the line joining the binding posts, and nearer to one of them, a tube held more or less parallel with the line will light up instantly when one of the terminals touches the plate, and will go out when separated from the plate.  The greater the surface of the plate, up to a certain limit, the easier the tube will light up.  When a tube is placed at right angles to the straight line joining the binding posts, and then rotated, its luminosity steadily increases until it is parallel with that line.  The writer must state, however, that he does not favor the idea of a leakage or current through the space any more than as a suitable explanation, for he is convinced that all these experiments could not be performed with a static machine yielding a constant difference of potential, and that condenser action is largely concerned in these phenomena.

It is well to take certain precautions when operating a Ruhmkorff coil with very rapidly alternating currents.  The primary current should not be turned on too long, else the core may get so hot as to melt the guta-percha or paraffin, or otherwise injure the insulation, and this may occur in a surprisingly short time, considering the current’s strength.  The primary current being turned on, the fine wire terminals may be joined without great risk, the impedance being so great that it is difficult to force enough current through the fine wire so as to injure it, and in fact the coil may be on the whole much safer when the terminals of the fine wire are connected than when they are insulated; but special care should be taken when the terminals are connected to the coatings of a Leyden jar, for with anywhere near the critical capacity, which just counteracts the self-induction at the existing frequency, the coil might meet the fate of St.  Polycarpus.  If an expensive vacuum pump is lighted up by being near to the coil or touched with a wire connected to one of the terminals, the current should be left on no more than a few moments, else the glass will be cracked by the heating of the rarefied gas in one of the narrow passages – in the writer’s own experience quod erat demonstrandum.

There are a good many other points of interest which may be observed in connection with such a machine.  Experiments with the telephone, a conductor in a strong field or with a condenser or arc, seem to afford certain proof that sounds far above the usual accepted limit of hearing would be perceived.  A telephone will emit notes of twelve to thirteen thousand vibrations per second; then the inability of the core to follow such rapid alternations begins to tell.  If, however, the magnet and core be replaced by a condenser and the terminals connected to the high-tension secondary of a transformer, higher notes may still be heard.  If the current be sent around a finely laminated core and a small piece of thin sheet iron be held gently against the core, a sound may be still heard with thirteen to fourteen thousand alternations per second, provided the current is sufficiently strong.  A small coil, however, tightly packed between the poles of a powerful magnet, will emit a sound with the above number of alternations, and arcs may be audible with a still higher frequency.  The limit of audition is variously estimated.  In Sir William Thomson’s writings it is stated somewhere that ten thousand per second, or nearly so, is the limit.  Other, but less reliable, sources give it as high as twenty-four thousand per second.  The above experiments have convinced the writer that notes of an incomparably higher number of vibrations per second would be perceived provided they could be produced with sufficient power.  There is no reason why it should not be so.  The condensations and rarefactions of the air would necessarily set the diaphragm in a corresponding vibration and some sensation would be produced, whatever – within certain limits – the velocity, of transmission to their nerve centres, though it is probable that for want of exercise the ear would not be able to distinguish any such high note.  With the eye it is different; if the sense of vision is based upon some resonance effect, as many believe, no amount of increase in the intensity of the ethereal vibration could extend our range of vision on either side of the visible spectrum.

The limit of audition of an arc depends on its size.  The greater the surface by a given heating effect in the arc, the higher the limit of audition.  The highest notes are emitted by the high-tension discharges of an induction coil in which the arc is, so to speak, all surface.  If R be the resistance of an arc, and C the current, and the linear dimensions be n times increased, then the resistance is R/n , and with the same current density the current would be n2C; hence the heating effect is n3 times greater, while the surface is only n2 times as, great.  For this reason very large arcs would not emit any rhythmical sound even with a very low frequency.  It must be observed, however, that the sound emitted depends to some extent also on the composition of the carbon.  If the carbon contain highly refractory material, this, when heated, tends to maintain the` temperature’ of the arc uniform and the sound is lessened; for this reason it would seem that an alternating arc requires such carbons:

With currents of such high frequencies it is possible to obtain noiseless arcs, but the regulation of the lamp is rendered extremely difficult on account of the excessively small attractions or repulsions between conductors conveying these currents:

An interesting feature of the arc produced by these rapidly alternating currents is its persistency.  There are two causes for it, one of which is always present, the other sometimes only.  One is due to the character of the current and the other to a property of the machine.  The first cause is the more important one, and is due directly to the rapidity of the alternations.  When an arc is formed by a periodically undulating current, there, is, a corresponding undulation in the temperature of the gaseous column, and, therefore, a corresponding undulation in the resistance of the arc.  But the resistance of the arc varies enormously with the temperature of the gaseous column, being, practically infinite when the gas between the electrodes is cold.  The persistence of the arc, therefore, depends on the inability of the column to cool.  It is for this reason impossible to maintain an arc with the current alternating only a few times a second.  On the other hand, with a practically continuous current, the arc is easily maintained, the column being constantly, kept at a high temperature and low resistance.  The higher the frequency the smaller the time interval during which the arc may cool’ and increase considerably in resistance.  With a frequency of 10,000 per second or more in any arc of equal, size excessively small variations of temperature are superimposed upon a steady temperature, like ripples on the surface of a deep sea.  The heating effect is practically continuous and the arc behaves like one produced, by a continuous current, with the exception, however, that it may not be quite as easily started, and that the electrodes are equally consumed; though the writer has observed ‘some irregularities in this respect.  The second cause alluded to, which possibly may not be present, is due to the tendency of a, machine of such high frequency td maintain a practically constant current.  When the arc is lengthened, the electromotive force rises in proportion and the arc appears to be more persistent.

Such a machine is eminently adapted to maintain a constant current, but it is very unfit for a constant potential.  As a matter of fact, in certain types of such machines a nearly constant current is an almost unavoidable result.  As the number of poles or polar projections is greatly increased, the clearance becomes of great importance.  One has really to do with’ a great number of very small machines.  Then there is the impedance in the armature, enormously augmented by the high frequency.  Then, again, the magnetic leakage is facilitated.  If there are’ three or four hundred alternate poles, the leakage is so great that it is virtually the same as connecting, in a two-pole machine, the poles by a piece of iron.  This disadvantage,, it is true, may be obviated more or less by using a field throughout of the same polarity, but then one encounters difficulties, of a different nature: All these things tend to maintain a constant’ current in the armature circuit.

In this connection it is interesting to notice that even to-day engineers are astonished at the performance of a constant current machine, just as, some years ago, they used to consider it an extraordinary performance if a machine was capable of maintaining a constant, potential difference between the terminals.  Yet one result is just as easily secured as the other.  It must only be remembered that in an inductive apparatus of any kind, if constant potential is required, the inductive relation between the primary or exciting and secondary or armature circuit must be the closest possible; whereas, in an apparatus for constant current just the opposite is required.  Furthermore, the opposition to the current’s flow in the induced circuit must be as small as possible in the former and as great as possible in the latter case.  But opposition to a current’s flow may be caused in more than one way.  It may be caused by ohmic resistance of self-induction.  One may make the induced circuit of a dynamo machine or transformer of such high resistance that when operating devices of considerably smaller resistance within very wide limits a nearly constant current is maintained.  But such high resistance involves a great loss in power, hence it is not practicable.  Not so self-induction.  Self-induction does not necessarily mean loss of power.  The moral is, use self-induction instead of resistance.  There is, however, a circumstance which favors the adoption of this plan, and this is, that a very high self-induction may be obtained cheaply by surrounding a comparatively small length of wire more or less completely with iron, and, furthermore, the effect may be exalted at will by causing a rapid undulation of the current.  To sum up, the requirements for constant current are: Weak magnetic connection between the induced and inducing circuits, greatest possible self-induction with the least resistance, greatest practicable rate of change of the current.  Constant potential, on the other hand, requires: Closest magnetic connection between the circuits, steady induced current, and, if possible, no reaction.  If the latter conditions could be fully satisfied in a constant potential machine, its output would surpass many times that of a machine primarily designed to give constant current.  Unfortunately, the type of machine in which these conditions may be satisfied is of little practical value, owing to the small electromotive force obtainable and the difficulties in taking off the current.

With their keen inventor’s instinct, the now successful arc-light men have early recognized the desiderata of a constant current machine.  Their arc light machines have weak fields, large armatures, with a great length of copper wire and few commutator segments to produce great variations in the current’s strength and to bring self-induction into play.  Such machines may maintain within considerable limits of variation in the resistance of the circuit a practically constant current.  Their output is of course correspondingly diminished, and, perhaps with the object in view not to Cut down the output too much, a simple device compensating exceptional variations is employed.  The undulation of the current is almost essential to the commercial success of an arc-light system.  It introduces in the circuit a steadying element taking the place of a large ohmic resistance, without involving a great loss in power, and, what is more important, it allows the use of simple clutch lamps, which with a current of a certain number of impulses per second, best suitable for each particular lamp, will, if properly attended to, regulate even better than the finest clock-work lamps.  This discovery has been made by the writer – several years too late.

It has been asserted by competent English electricians that in a constant-current machine or transformer the regulation is effected by varying the phase of the secondary current.  That this view is erroneous may be easily proved by using, instead of lamps, devices each possessing self-induction and capacity or self-induction and resistance – that is, retarding and accelerating components – in such proportions as to not affect materially the phase of the secondary current.  Any number of such devices may be inserted or cut out, still it will be found that the regulation occurs, a constant current being maintained, while the electromotive force is varied with the number of the devices.  The change of phase of the secondary current is simply a result following from the changes in resistance, and, though secondary reaction is always of more or less importance, yet the real cause of the regulation lies in the existence of the conditions above enumerated.  It should be stated, however, that in the case of a machine the above remarks are to be restricted to the cases in which the machine is independently excited.  If the excitation be effected by commutating the armature current, then the fixed position of the brushes makes any shifting of the neutral line of the utmost importance, and it may not be thought immodest of the writer to mention that, as far as records go, he seems to have been the first who has successfully regulated machines by providing a bridge connection between a point of the external circuit and the commutator by means of a third brush.  The armature and field being properly proportioned, and the brushes placed in their determined positions, a constant current or constant potential resulted from the shifting of the diameter of commutation by the varying loads.

In connection with machines of such high frequencies, the condenser affords an especially interesting study.  It is easy to raise the electromotive force of such a machine to four or five times the value by simply connecting the condenser to the circuit, and the writer has continually used the condenser for the purposes of regulation, as suggested by Blakesley in his book on alternate currents, in which he has treated the most frequently occurring condenser problems with exquisite simplicity and clearness.  The high frequency allows the use of small capacities and renders investigation easy.  But; although in most of the experiments the result may be foretold, some phenomena observed seem at first curious.  One experiment performed three or four months ago with such a machine and a condenser may serve as an illustration.  A machine was used giving about 20,000 alternations per second.  Two bare wires about twenty feet long and two millimetres in diameter, in close proximity to each other, were connected to the terminals of the machine at the one end, and to a condenser at the other.  A small transformer without an iron core, of course, was used to bring the reading within range of a Cardew voltmeter by connecting the voltmeter to the secondary.  On the terminals of the condenser the electromotive force was about 120 volts, and from there inch by inch it gradually fell until at the terminals of the machine it was about 65 volts.  It was virtually as though the condenser were a generator, and the line and armature circuit simply a resistance connected to it.  The writer looked for a case of resonance, but he was unable to augment the effect by varying the capacity very carefully and gradually or by changing the speed of the machine.  A case of pure resonance he was unable to obtain.  When a condenser was connected to the terminals of the machine – the self-induction of the armature being first determined in the maximum and minimum position and the mean value taken – the capacity which gave the highest electromotive force corresponded most nearly to that which just counteracted the self-induction with the existing frequency.  If the capacity was increased or diminished, the electromotive force fell as expected.

With frequencies as high as the above mentioned, the condenser effects are of enormous importance.  The condenser becomes a highly efficient apparatus capable of transferring considerable energy.

The writer has thought machines of high frequencies may find use at least in cases when transmission at great distances is not contemplated.  The increase of the resistance may be reduced in the conductors and exalted in the devices when heating effects are wanted, transformers may be made of higher efficiency and greater outputs and valuable results may be secured by means of condensers.  In using machines of high frequency the writer has been able to observe condenser effects which would have otherwise escaped his notice.  He has been very much interested in the phenomenon observed on the Ferranti main which has been so much spoken of.  Opinions have been expressed by competent electricians, but up to the present all still seems: to be conjecture.  Undoubtedly in the views expressed the truth must be contained, but as the opinions differ some must be erroneous.  Upon seeing the diagram of M. Ferranti in the Electrician of Dec.  19 the writer has formed his opinion of the effect.  In the absence of all the necessary data he must content himself to express in words the process which, in his opinion, must undoubtedly occur.  The condenser brings about two effects: (1) It changes the phases of the currents in the branches; (2) it changes the strength of the currents.  As regards the change in phase, the effect of the condenser is to accelerate the current in the secondary at Deptford and to retard it in the primary at London.  The former has the effect diminishing the self-induction in the Deptford primary, and this means lower electromotive force on the dynamo.  The retardation of the primary at London, as far as merely the phase is concerned, has little or no effect since the phase of the current in the secondary in London is not arbitrarily kept.

Now, the second effect of the condenser is to increase the current in both the branches.  It is immaterial whether there is equality between the currents or not; but it is necessary to point out, in order .  to see the importance of the Deptford step-up transformer, that an increase of the current in both the branches produces opposite effects.  At Deptford it means further lowering of the electromotive force at the primary, and at London it means increase of the electromotive force.  at the secondary., Therefore, all the things co-act to bring about the phenomenon observed.  Such actions, at least, have been formed to take place under similar conditions.  When the dynamo is connected directly to the main, one can see that no such action can happen.

The writer has been particularly interested in, the suggestions and views expressed by Mr. Swinburne.  Mr. Swinburne has frequently honored him by disagreeing with his views.  Three years ago, when the writer, against the prevailing opinion of engineers, advanced’ an open circuit transformer, Mr. Swinburne was the first to condemn it by stating in the Electrician: « The (Tesla) transformer must be inefficient; it has magnetic poles revolving, and has thus an open magnetic circuit. »  Two years later Mr. Swinburne becomes the champion of the open circuit transformer, and offers to convert him.  But, tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.

The writer cannot believe in the armature reaction theory as expressed in Industries, though undoubtedly there is some truth in it.  Mr. Swinburne’s interpretation, however, is so broad that it may mean anything.

Mr. Swinburne seems to have been the first who has called attention to the heating of the condensers.  The astonishment expressed at that by the ablest electrician is a striking illustration of ‘the desirability to execute experiments on a large scale.  To the scientific investigator, who deals with the minutest quantities, who observes the faintest effects, far more credit is due .than to one who experiments with apparatus on an industrial scale; and indeed history of science has recorded examples of marvelous skill, patience and keenness of observation.  But however great the skill, and however keen the observer’s perception, it can only be of advantage to magnify an effect and thus facilitate its study.  Had Faraday carried out but one of his experiments on dynamic induction on a large scale it would have resulted in an incalculable benefit.

In ‘the opinion of the writer, the heating of the condensers is due to three distinct causes: first, leakage or conduction; second, imperfect elasticity in the dielectric, and, third, surging of the charges in the conductor.
In many experiments he has been confronted with the problem of transferring the greatest possible amount of energy across a dielectric.  For instance, he has made incandescent lamps the ends of the filaments being completely sealed in’ glass, but attached to interior condenser coatings so that all the energy required had to be transferred across the glass with a condenser surface of no more than a few centimetres square.  Such lamps would be a practical success with sufficiently high frequencies.  With alternations as high as 15,000 per second it was easy to bring the filaments to incandescence.  With lower frequencies this could also be effected, but the potential difference had, of course, to be increased.  The writer has then found that the glass gets, after a while, perforated and the vacuum is impaired.  The higher the frequency the longer the lamp can withstand.  Such a deterioration of the dielectric always takes place when the amount of energy transferred across a dielectric of definite dimensions and by a given frequency is too great.  Glass withstands best, but even glass is deteriorated.  In this case the potential difference on the plates is of course too great and losses by conduction and imperfect elasticity result.  If it is desirable to produce condensers capable to stand differences of potential, then the only dielectric which will involve no losses is a gas under pressure.  The writer has worked with air under enormous pressures, but there are a great many practical difficulties in that direction.  He thinks that in order to make the condensers of considerable practical utility, higher frequencies should be used: though such a plan has besides others the great disadvantage that the system would become very unfit for the operation of motors.

If the writer does not err Mr. Swinburne has suggested a way of exciting an alternator by means of a condenser.  For a number of years past the writer has carried on experiments with the object in view of producing a practical self-exciting alternator: He has in a ,variety of ways succeeded in producing some excitation of the magnets by means of alternating currents, which were not commutated by mechanical devices.  Nevertheless, his experiments have revealed a fact which stands as solid, as the rock of Gibraltar.  No practical excitation can be obtained with a single periodically varying and not commutated current.  The reason is that the changes in the strength of the exciting current produce corresponding changes in the field strength, with the result of inducing currents in the armature; and these currents interfere with these produced by the motion of the armature through the field, the former being a quarter phase in advance of the latter.  If the field be laminated, no excitation can be produced; if it be not laminated, some excitation is produced, but .the magnets are heated.  By combining two exciting currents – displaced by a quarter phase, excitation may be produced in both cases, and if the magnet be not laminated the heating effect is comparatively small, as a uniformity in the field strength is maintained, and, were it possible to produce a perfectly uniform field, excitation on this plan would give quite practical results.  If such results are to be secured by the use of a condenser, as suggested by Mr. Swinburne, it is necessary to combine two circuits separated by a quarter phase; that is to say, the armature coils must be wound in two sets and connected to one or two independent condensers.  The writer has done some work in that direction, but must defer the description of the devices for some future time. »

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TESLA Memory Project

 

 

 

The  objective of the TESLA Memory Project is to increase awareness of :

–      life and work of Nikola Tesla

–      global importance of science

–      world memory patrimony

Tesla Memory Project was initiated by Aleksandar Protic on 2008 and officialy included as part of UNESCO Club Sorbonne program on 2009.

Nikola Tesla, one of the world’s greatest scientists, is often considered as “The Man who invented the 20th century, now shaping the 21st century”. His impact on the modern world is enormous, products of his genius can be found in everyday life. Nikola Tesla exemplifies a unifying force and inspiration for all nations in the name of peace and science. He was an authentic visionary far ahead of his contemporaries in the field of scientific development.

Nikola Tesla – Biography :

http://www.teslasociety.com/biography.htm

http://www.tesla-museum.org/meni_en/nt.php?link=tesla/t&opc=sub1

 

 

 

 

 

Nikola Tesla as UNESCO Memory of the world heritage

 

 

 

UNESCO website :

 » Nikola Tesla’s Archive consists of a unique collection of manuscripts, photographs, scientific and patent documentation which is indispensable in studying the history of electrification of the whole Globe.  Nikola Tesla, (1856 – 1943) Serbian-born, American inventor and scientist, a pioneer in electrification, significantly influenced the technological development of our civilization by his polyphase system inventions. This system is the cornerstone of modern electro-energetic system of production, long distance transmission and usage of electrical currents, electricity and communication.

Since the beginning of its exploitation towards the end of last century up to now, the polyphase system, together with the asynchronous motor, has been perfected and improved to a remarkable and hitherto unconceivable dimensions.

He is credited as being a very imaginative scientist whose ideas were paths to many important discoveries without which our civilization would lack many of its technological comforts (radio, radar, television, motors of all kinds, high frequency fields, coils, computers). Some of his ideas are still to be realized.

Way ahead of his time, he was one of the first to become aware of the emerging energy problem (1900) as a conclusion of his famous experiments in Colorado Springs (1899-1900).

In his honor, the magnetic induction unit (Tesla) of the SI system is named after him.
Simply speaking, the collection documents the most important era of the history of development of the modern world, which, thanks to the Tesla system, made easy energy production and distribution possible.  »