Notes - Tesla and his Critics

Our contemporary the Electrical Engineer (N.Y.) has given offence to Mr. Tesla by an article entitled “Mr. Tesla and the Czar.” The connection between these two famous personages is not at first sight apparent, but it appears that both are Slavs, and Tesla’s new scheme for aerial power transmission strikes our contemporary as belonging to the same class as the Disarmament scheme of the Czar. The aims of both Tesla and the Czar, says our contemporary, “appear wholly noble, their thoughts are beautiful, and if they fail, as they probably will in some material and vital respects, the world is certainly none the worse off for what they actually accomplish.” Though the article is not wholly unappreciative of the good work which Tesla has accomplished, it twits Tesla with the number of his unfinished inventions, and unnecessarily perhaps emphasises the assertion that Profs. Brackett and Dolbear have virtually classed him as a humbug. Tesla has written in reply that by this last straw our contemporary has strained his Christianity and philosophy to the breaking point, demands proofs of the animadversions of the distinguished professors, which he says reflect on his honour and honesty, and through him upon a number of American Universities, who have conferred great honours upon him. The Electrical Engineer replies by pointing out the support that it has given to Mr. Tesla and his inventions since the beginning of his career, and professes that its mild criticism and mild banter was a sign of true friendship. We confess that we don’t think that there was anything much in what our contemporary said, but the way in which it was put might be expected to give offence to a man of Tesla’s poetic sensibility.