Kind People/Big Hearts

The October-December issue of “News Notes” offered arrangements for those who wished to continue their TCBA NEWS subscriptions but were unable to come up with the $24 payment. I've done this for years and found few coilers with dishonest intentions. Some who read my offer were kind enough to send in various amounts to assist those in economic hardship. These contributions go into the donor's account and are credited to their subscription. For example, one donor sent in $48. Twenty-four of those dollars were to be used to extend the donor's subscription and the other $24 was to be used for subscribers claiming a case of hardship. The entire $48 will cover two years for the donor regardless of whether there is a need to divert any funds for someone else. If it is necessary to use part of that $48, both the donor and the recipient will get a year's subscription at a reduced rate. There's never been a heavy demand for assistance so it is no big deal to carry the few requests that come in. However, it's nice to know that there are members out there who care. TCBA is made up of kind people with big hearts.

Tesla, 'A Loon'?

The ALBANY TIMES UNION (NY) for 8/3/93 picked up a syndicated report on last summer's Extraordinary Science Conference. It was an uncomplimentary assessment of Nikola Tesla. The reporter appears to have had little knowledge of Tesla's contributions to science. Instead, he dwelt on Tesla's human frailties. “He was by all accounts, a genius. And at times a loon.” This is an unfortunate, if not disgraceful, situation as the objective of any group carrying Tesla's name should be to bring respect, not derision. Because of the damaging reflection brought upon Tesla, TCBA will no longer report on International Tesla Society activities.

Erosion in Rotary Gap Electrodes

An article on rotary gap electrode erosion appeared in the IEEE TRANSACTION ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, Vol. 29, #4 for July/August, 1993. A rotary gap used in an ozone generator was studied for the purpose of determining the best materials for electrodes. The conclusions drawn are: (1) Sintered tungsten with thorium dioxide has the smallest erosion rate among the materials tested in the experiment. (2) In order to obtain longer lifetimes, the electrode surface should be flat, and the surface area should be large, (tip from Bertho Boman)

From the TMS Newsletter

The Fall 1993 issue of the Tesla Memorial Society Newsletter listed several interesting events. The Colorado Springs City Council will name the new hydro-electric dam as NIKOLA TESLA DAM. A planned power plant at the site will be named as TESLA POWER PLANT. The Tesla Museum in Belgrade has loaned Tesla memorabilia and devices to the Smithsonian for its Centenary of the Columbian Exposition display. The TMS offers books and videotapes on Tesla. For more information, write to the TMS, c/o Nicholas Kosanovich, 453 Martin Road, Lackawanna, NY 14218

Croatian Conflict

Kick over the statues

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), one of the pioneers of applied electromagnetism and the only physicist (to date) to refuse a Nobel Prize, was, ethnically, a Serb. He was, however, born in Croatia, in the village of Smiljan. Until recently, his memory was revered by Serbs and Croats alike, but now it has become a subject of contention.

Smiljan lies in the area which local Serbs have proclaimed to be the “Serbian Republic of Krajina”. And according to the authorities of this self-styled “Republic”, the Croats have “desecrated” Tesla's birthplace, destroying the house where he was born, the church where his father was priest, the local cemetery, and the statue to Tesla which stood in the town.

Croatian diplomatic sources deny any deliberate destruction, while admitting that, as the area is outside their control, they cannot produce photographic evidence.

Ivan Supek, president of the Croatian Academy of Sciences, who has an international reputation as a campaigner for peace and human rights, has his own version of what happened. Tesla's statue, he said, was indeed damaged - by shelling during the Serbian assault on the village. But the fragments, he said, have been conveyed to a museum in Split for eventual restoration. The church is undamaged, Supek says, and so is the house of Tesla's birth. “I have not been there myself”, Supek stressed, “but I have this information from persons whom I can trust.” Croats honour Tesla as one of the leading lights of Croatian science. His statue stands in the entrance to the Croatian Academy, matching one of the Croat, Rudjer Boskovic.

The US embassy in Belgrade, asked by the Serbs from Krajina to raise the matter at international level (Tesla was, for the greater part of his creative life, a US citizen), declined to become involved.

Vera Rich

PHYSICS WORLD October, 1993 - Tip from R.G. Kent