Science World Is Startled by Tesla Claims

Yugoslav Inventor Declares He Has New Energy Transmission Plan

New York, July 11 — (Associated Press) — The scientific world cocked an eye today for proof of three claims made by Nikola Tesla, Yugoslav inventor just turned 79.

Dr. Tesla, announcing that he was taking the place of the late Thomas A. Edison as "a popular aymbol of scientific advance," claimed a new method and apparatus for transmitting mechanical energy any terrestrial distance, one-way induction current of varying flux without a commutator, and proof that much of the theory of relativity is false.

"Truly amazing if proofs, are forthcoming to verify them," commented Dr. Henry A. Barton, director of the American Institute of Physics. "Projects such as these have been envisioned for many years, and scientists the world over have been unable to bring them to fruition."

Dr. Tesla offered no proof of his claims as he made them in a six-hour dinner press conference yesterday.

He asserted that his new means of energy transmission would make possible a communications system which would keep a ship on its true course in any weather and would enable geologists to divine mineral deposits from the earth's surface with more accuracy than has been heretofore possible.

Direct current without a commutator, he said, would revolutionize power for automobiles, if practical engineers can carry out his findings.

He said he studied cosmic rays to learn that the theory of relativity has been what he long considered it — "a beggar dressed in purple which the ignorant mistake for a king."