Nikola Tesla Lecture

Courtesy of Leland Anderson, author.

Leland I. Anderson, Editor, Nikola Tesla: Lecture before the New York Academy of Sciences - April 6, 1897, c1994, 122 pages, illus, index, published by Twenty First Century Books, Breckenridge, Colorado, paperback, $12.95.

Book Review by Hal Fox

For those interested in scientific history or who are collectors of Tesla’s work, this book should be in your library. This previously unpublished lecture given before the New York Academy of Sciences on April 6, 1897 provides an insight into the development of X-ray equipment and its use. One of the more interesting parts is the honest way in which Tesla lays out his experimental observations of tissue damage from some types of X-rays.

One of the more interesting discussions involves the concept that particles (or rays) can develop a hot spot in the glass envelope of certain types of single electrode tubes and subsequently be resealed as related by Tesla. A by-product of this operation appears to be a lower pressure in the bulb. As noted by the editor, this effect should be explored. It would probably give us additional information about the nature of discharges and of the transport of charged particles through glass. See book page 24-25.

According to Tesla’s lecture, if his lab had not burned down, causing him some delay in his experiments, he might have been the one to discover the X-rays rather than William Conrad Roentgen (for which he received the Nobel prize for physics.) One notable part of Tesla’s lecture was his admission that he listened carefully to “the kind spirit who then communed with me ...” Page 32.

The discussion of how best to make high voltage capacitors and coils and to protect them from internal arcing by the use of beeswax and paraffin (the best insulating materials available a hundred years ago.) Also on page 40 is Tesla’s comments about pressure in tubes: “Namely, in the usual commercial bulbs the vacuum gets higher when the current is passed through the primary in a certain direction and is lowered when the direction of the current is reversed.” Would anyone like to try that?

Tesla reports on damage from X-ray radiation and its alleviation: “Fortunately, frequent warm baths, free application of Vaseline, cleaning, and general bodily care soon repaired the ravages of the destructive agent, and I breathed again freely.” He then warns that at a shorter distance, a serious, perhaps irremediable, injury might have resulted.

Except for some practical advise of how to insulate capacitors and coils with 100-year-old materials and the comments on changing the degree of vacuum by altering the current direction, there is little that is new Tesla technology. When you consider what Tesla did a hundred years ago, you must admit that he was an extremely capable experimenter, builder, and inventor.

One of the most important concepts that I have learned during the past few years, serving as editor of two energy-related publications is this: There are several new geniuses who are alive today and working on far-more advanced technology than Tesla did. That statement in no way is meant to downgrade Tesla’s important contributions. With the enormous developments made in mathematics and science over the past 100 years, it would be foolish not to expect many new and better inventions. The important concept is that we should help support the modern Teslas and solve today’s energy problems. The biggest challenge is to separate the fakes from the geniuses and then to get the scientific and investment community to recognize the new discoveries that appear to be non-scientific.