Museum Honors Visionary Work of Nikola Tesla

You don’t need a spaceship to travel back to the future. A visit to the Nikola Tesla Museum of Science and Industry, at 2220 E. Bijou St., takes visitors back to the turn of the century for a look at the futurist visions of one of the most imaginative geniuses of all time, Nikola Tesla, who once established a laboratory just outside of Colorado Springs.

Without Tesla, the wheels of modern-day industry might never have begun turning. Best remembered for his discovery of alternating current, Tesla’s induction motors were to provide the foundation stone on which the modern electrical power industry was built.

Moreover, early patents prove Tesla, not Marconi, was the “father” of radio.

In all, 700 patents in a number of fields were issued to him, and his research ushered in the age of electronics. His vision reached into the future with forecasts of particle-beam technology, high-frequency voltages and interstellar communication.

Colorado Springs came under the spell of the eccentric scientist for a brief period in 1899 when Tesla built an experimental station in a field near the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind on the east side of town. The outlandish structure had a tower 80 feet high and was topped by a 122-foot mast with a large copper ball at the end.

The lab was designed to carry out research on electromagnetics and to test his new theory of wireless power transmission. Toward that end, he had perfected what he considered his greatest invention: a magnifying transmitter - a high-voltage, high-frequency device.

When the time came to test his grand theory of wireless power transmission, he installed a bank of 250-watt bulbs at Palmer Lake, 20 miles away. After injecting voltage into the ground at the lab site, bolts of electricity shot upward from the mast of the lab in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. More importantly, Tesla was overjoyed to see a golden glow on the northwest horizon as the bulbs at Palmer Lake illuminated.

Tesla considered the experiment a great success; however, area residents were not as enthusiastic about the performance. The surge of power burned out a city generator and threw the entire town in darkness.

The story of Tesla’s life, his impact on present-day technology and his vision of the future are all recorded at the museum. The highlight to any visit is an hour-long lab demonstration given by J.W. McGinnis, president of the International Tesla Society Inc.

A veritable magic show awaits in the lab. Sparks fly, eerie streamers of light glow, lightning explodes into spidery threads, and 10,000 volts of electricity climb “Jacob’s Ladder” with an ominous “hum of death.”

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Lab demonstrations are presented daily at 2 p.m., and by appointment for school children and other groups. For additional information about the museum or the International Tesla Society, call (719) 475-0918.