Astronautics & Astronomy - Review of Tesla's Lecture

Nikola Tesla: lecture before the New York Academy of Sciences, April 6, 1897: the streams of Lenard and Roentgen and novel apparatus for their production: reconstructed, ed. by Leland I. Anderson. Twenty First Century Books, 1994. 123p (Tesla presents, 2) index ISBN 0-9636012-1-0, $21.95; ISBN 0-9636012-7-X pbk, $12.95

Tesla’s lecture of 1897 was never published in full. In this monograph on Tesla (the second of three in this series), Anderson has reconstructed the lecture from a partial typescript and from two articles by Tesla in the May 5 and August 11,1897, issues of Electrical Review (NY). Tesla begins by recounting his observations of emanations from dozens of differently designed Crookes tubes using a variety of powerful high-frequency supplies of his own design. He provided evidence that Roentgen-rays (X-rays) were produced where the cathode rays (electrons) first struck, e.g., the glass wall of the vacuum tube, but he was not able to fully clarify which of the rays was responsible for the different effects. In “The Hurtful Actions of Lenard and Roentgen Tubes,” Tesla describes his own experiences with the damage to the skin produced by both, and includes sensible advice for minimizing the damage. In addition to its historical interest, Tesla’s presentation of experiments that revolutionized physical science provides a fascinating view of the analogies and metaphors guiding the thoughts of one important contributor to the revolution. General; faculty; professional. - A. B. Stewart, Wright State University.