Scientists Honor Nikola Tesla

Many of Them Call Him the Most Remarkable Electrician of the Century.

HIS WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES.

He Thinks That the Earth's Electricity Can Be Transmitted Through the Air.

IS AT HEART AN AMERICAN.

What He Has to Say of Electrical Engineering as a Profession for Young Men.

Nikola Tesla has been called by scientific men, who do not award praise freely or indiscriminately, "the greatest living electrician." At the recent convention of electricians held in St. Louis, a well known electric journal, issued daily bulletins or "extras" giving a list of the delegates and distinguished attendants as they arrived at the convention, a programme of the day's proceedings and a special article of immediate interest having reference to the current discussions of the convention.

One evening during the session of the convention Mr. Tesla lectured on some of his recent experiments. The bulletin for that day contained a brief account of his life. So great is the interest taken in this young man that over four thousand copies of the journal containing this biographical sketch were sold upon the streets of St. Louis something unprecedented in the history of electrical journalism-and in the evening his lecture, in the Grand Music Entertainment Hall, was listened to by a larger audience than had ever been gathered together before in the United States on an occasion of this kind. Many were glad to purchase the complimentary tickets at $4 or $5 a piece.

It is singular that this remarkable man should have come to us from one of the smallest and least known nations of Europe, Montenegro; that he is a young man (only thirty-six years of age), and that the best scientific minds believe he has only begun to give the world the result of valuable researches.

In a recent symposium on the subject of electricity the contributors mentioned his name with a sort of reverence, as one who has an almost magic power over the most hidden secrets of nature. Men in the foremost ranks of science, not only in the United States but in Europe, believe that at no distant day he will announce discoveries which will be as far in advance of our present knowledge of electricity as the telegraph was over the mail coach. He has delivered only three or four lectures one in Philadelphia, one in St. Louis, another in Paris and another in London-but each lecture has been listened to and applauded by the very creme de la creme of the scientific world.

MODESTY ONE OF HIS VIRTUES.

Another remarkable characteristic about Mr. Tesla, especially when we consider the self-assertive age in which we live-is his modesty. This serves to make him more highly esteemed by his associates and only adds to his renown. His friends might truly exclaim with the old dramatist, Thy modesty is a flambeau to thy merit."

It is only affirming the truth when it is stated that many of the high compliments he receives annoy him. He honestly does not believe he is entitled to the praise that is continually showered upon him. He is an enthusiastic worker in his profession, but believes that he is only one of the standard bearers in the great march of human progress and that he is as much indebted to other minds who have studied and worked in this new science as others think they are indebted to him. In his famous London lecture, after expressing how deeply he felt. the honor of addressing the foremost thinkers of the day, his next sentence showed the character of the man. He said:

"The results which I have the honor to present before such a gathering I cannot call my own. There are among you not a few who can lay better claim than myself to any feature of merit which this work may contain. I need not mention many names which are world known-names of those among you who are recognized as the leaders in this enchanting science, but one, at least, I must mention-a name which could not be omitted in a demonstration of this kind. It is a name associated with the most beautiful invention ever-immade. It is Crookes."

Crookes is a writer famous for his descriptions of experiments on radiant matter.

A REMARKABLE MOTHER.

Mr. Tesla, like many famous men, had a remarkable mother. She died only two years ago at the age of sixty. She was a simple woman, but in the surrounding territory in which she lived, both far and near, was considered the most remarkable female in the land. She inherited the inventive spirit from Mr. Tesla's grandfather, an inventor and constructor of machinery, who was an exceptionally ingenious man. Old Mrs. Tesla was an indefatigable worker. As a rule she arose at four o'clock in the morning and every day worked until late at night.

The home of the Teslas was in a very wild country, away from any of the conveniences of civilization, and Mrs. Tesla displayed her inventive faculty by. constructing nearly all the appliances that were necessary for use in the household, and that, too, withont ever having seen patterns from which to make them. For instance, in the matter of weaving, she would plant the henip and flax, get out the fibre, spin thread and then construct the necessary mechanical appliances for weaving, making her own loom and producing for her large family all kinds of cloth from the heaviest, suitable for outdoor garments in the winter, down to the finest pieces, suitable for embroidery work. When she died, so great was she held in esteem that the whole country for miles around mourned her loss.

Mr. Tesla is such a hard worker that he has little time for social pleasures, if, indeed, he has any taste in that direction. He is a bachelor, tall, very spare of build, has dark, deep set eyes, jet black hair and an expression that suggests at once the deep thinker. Though polite and even friendly to newspaper men, he has no desire to exploit himself in print. He has been the talk of the scientific world for five years, but the following interview I had with him a few days ago is the first that has ever appeared in any journal:

TESLA'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

My interview with Mr. Tesla commenced with a request that he give me a brief account of his life. He replied:

"I was born in a little place called Smiljan, on the border country of Austria-Hungary, this special section of territory being known as Lika. I am now thirty-six years of age. I have gone through the educational training that a young man usually receives in Europe, and nearly eighteen years of my life have been spent in schools. I completed my preparatory in Gospich and Carlstatt, and the Polytechnic School in Gratz, Austria. My first employment was in engineering; then I was connected with the Hungarian Government: Telegraph Company; afterward I engaged in telephonic work. After this I was interested in the electric light. industry.. and finally in the transmission of power.

"In 1884 I came to this country, my principal object being to develop certain kleas of inventions which I had vainly tried to develop in Europe. For a while I worked with Edison. In the beginning of 1885 a company was formed in my name, I developed for this company certain inventions, brought out a system of lighting and peculiar appliances belonging to that system. In the following year another company was formed-some time in 1886-the object of which was to introduce a motor of my invention. This motor is based on what is now the well known discovery of the rotating magnetic field, as it is technically called. The best way to give an idea of this discovery to one who is not technically educated in these matters is to put it as follows:

"A magnet, as it is well known, will attract a piece of wire and hold it. It was my good fortune to discover a method of constructing a magnet in such a way that it would not hold the iron, but spin it round and round."

I asked Mr. Tesla to kindly give me some further information in regard to his family.

TESLA'S FAMILY AND HOME.

"My father," he continued, "was a prominent clergyman attached to the Greek Oriental Church, an orator and a writer of note. He was a man highly educated, who spoke fluently a great many languages and also ranked high as a mathematician. He was an omnivorous reader and possessed a large library from which it was my privilege to gather a great deal of information during the years of my life spent at home. My uncle, his brother, was another skilled mathematician, and professor of a military academy in Austria. He wrote a number of standard works on mathematics.

"My mother died about two years ago.. One of her brothers — the youngest — is one of the leading dignitaries in the Greek Oriental Church, having the rank of a cardinal. He is comparatively a young man and a famous orator. 

"The section of country in which I was born was an exceedingly wild region — a mountainous and rocky region — with, however, many stretches of beautiful scenery, but poor from the agricultural point of view. In fact, they had a homely though somewhat sacrilegious saying in our land, that when God distributed the rocks over the earth He carried them in a sack, and that when he was above our land the sack broke.

"I was interested in electricity almost from the beginning of my educational career. I read all that. I could find on the subject. l the phenomena I witnessed in this line only excited my interest. When I was, a mere boy I began to experiment with batteries, and induction coils, also with frictional and static machines. When I attended the Polytechnic School at Gratz I began to devote more and more of my time to electrical studies, and after I left the school I may say that, practically, all my time was taken up with the study of electricity.

EVIDENCES OF GENIUS.

"Originally, I closely followed up the course of mathematics and physics with the view of graduating as a professor of those sciences. It was, I think, in 1875 or 1876 that we expérimented in the Polythecnic School with one of the first practical dynamo machines, which was brought out by M. Gramme, a Frenchman. It dccurred to me that a machine might be constructed with out the complication of what is technically called commutator and brushes. A commutator is used on electric current generators and motors and on induction coils and elsewhere for changing the direction of currents. The brushes are pieces of copper or other material that bear against the cylindrical surface of the commutator:

"I remember that my professor at that time tried to demonstrate that such a machine was out of the question — in fact, an impossibility. I must confess to a feeling that I, in common with many better men, have had from early youth. As a youth, wlien I was told that a certain thing was impossible, it only served to arouse within me a spirit of contradiction. In this particular instance, I began to think about and to work on a machine made according to the idea that had occurred to me. Day and night, year after year, I worked incessantly.

"After working several years I am happy to say that I was able to produce a motor which is now gradually being introduced in the United States. It is a machine of ideal simplicity, requiring no attention whatever. It should be remembered that in recent years there has been a wonderful advance along almost all electrical lines. What were at one time supposed to be novel or impossible schemes of doubtful accomplishment have proved to be feasible. Encouraged by this condition of affairs I afterward devoted my energies to the production of a more practical illuininant than we have at present and am still pursuing my labors in this direction.

DISCOVERIES ABOUT LIGHT.

"The most wonderful phenomenon in nature is light and the most remarkable feature connected with man's physical life is the eye, which is the only organ capable of being affected directly by the vibrations of the ether. We could see for an immense distance if it were not for gases and particles that fill up the intervening space. These absorb the energies of the air.

"In pursuing this line of work I have had the good fortune to discover some facts, which are certainly novel and which, I am glad to say, have been recognized by scientific men both here and abroad. I think the probable result of these investigations will be, the production of a more efficient source of light, thus supplanting the wasteful processes of light production.

"My experiments have been almost entirely contined to alternating currents of high potential. An alternating current is a current changed periodically in direction, and the word potential expresses the force and energy with which these currents are made to pass. In this particular case the force is very great. The fact that a current vibrates back and forth rapidly in this way tends to. set up or create waves in the ether, which is a hypothetical thing that was invented to explain the phenomena of light.

"These currents permeate all space-not only the at-\ mosphere, but solids as well--and the waves extend out in concentric spheres indefinitely into space. I utilize these waves in some of my experiments to produce certain phenomena. It is not an electric current in the sense in which we are popularly accustomed to use that term.

TRANSMITTING ENERGY THROUGH AIR.

"These experiments may be further illustrated in this way: Suppose you throw a stone in the centre of a pool of water. While there, would be no transmission of water from the point where the stone landed to the shore, yet the waves would reach the shore and exert force on the shore. In a similar way I utilize the force which I obtain in the manner described.

"One result of my investigations, the possibility of which has been proved by experiment, is the transmission of energy through the air. I advanced that idea some time ago, and I am happy to say it is now receiving some attention from scientific men.

"The plan I have suggested is to disturb by powerful machinery the electricity of the earth, thus setting it in vibration. Proper appliances will be constructed to take up the energy transmitted by these vibrations, transforming them into a suitable form of power to be made available for the practical wants of life. Primarily the agent that I propose to use consists of an old-fashioned electrical spark, such as they light from a Leyden jar. This is rapidly discharged back and forth an enormous number of times. Every time that the spark seems to pass it is in reality passing hundreds of thousands of times, and each time it passes it sets up these waves in the ether which extend out into space. In other words, the result of the experiment is to disturb the equilibrium of the ether.

"I am hopeful that in no distant time this method will be deemed worthy of a practical trial. It may be proper to say that among other things I have already demonstrated that we do not need to have two wires to convey an electric current, one wire being sufficient, and, in fact, in some cases, better than two wires.

PHENOMENA OF RESONANCE.

"In the experiments of transmitting power by means of wires the phenomena of resonance is to be observed. If one tuning fork, for instance, is set into vibration another one of the same pitch, anywhere within reasonable distance, will respond. That is a familiar phenomena of sound termed resonance. Now, if I set up these etheric vibrations that I speak of to certain pitch, and my wire is within reach of these vibrations (not necessarily metallically connected) it will respond provided its pitch corresponds with that of the etheric vibration.

"In that way I obtain energy in another conductor without any metallic connection whatever. Where a single conductor is connected with the source of vibratory energy these waves surge back and forth in that conductor very much as water would in a tube when you reverse it back and forth.

"One of my most interesting experiments is with the incandescent lamp with a single wire to it. I place in the centre of this a piece of very refractory substance of any kind and connect that with the source of vibratory energy, and, with this as a centre, these etheric waves are sent out in concentric spheres and are reflected back from the inner surface of the glass globe upon this small piece of refractory substance. The impact of the molecules of rarified air in this globe creates such intense heat in this refractory substance (which is the focus) as to bring it to a high state of incandescence. It is difficult to find a substance that will stand that heat, but I have found some substances that stand it fairly well.

"The transmission through the earth can be effected at any distance; in fact, it matters little whether the distance is small or great.

OF INCALCULABLE VALUE.

"Such a result, if achieved, would, of course, be of incalculable value to the world and greatly advance the progress of the human race. In this great country (of which I am proud to be a citizen) we have water powers which, in aggregate amount, are sufficient to supply all the needs-in fact, far more than the needs of the whole human race. Take, for instance, Niagara. This famous waterfall is estimated variously all the way from five to six millions horse power. Now, four millions horse power, economically directed, would light every lamp, drive every railroad, propel every ship, heat every store and produce every article manufactured by machinery in the United States.

"It will not be long before we can transmit that power under quite practical conditions, by means of wires with the alternating system, over distances as great as a thousand miles. Engineers now object to the use of very high pressures which would be necessary in such transmissions of power. But I believe the time will come when we shall transmit that energy without any wire.

"Since I have experimentally proved that we can get back electric impulses over one single wire without any return, we may avail ourselves of the earth as a medium of transmission as one difficult obstacle to overcome. In fact, the only serious objection to this scheme is to find a means to concentrate the energy of vibrations spread over a great area on one spot.

"If this power is to be transmitted across the ocean it will, of course, involve the expenditure of an enormous quantity of energy. It has been suggested that I can produce a set of lenses made of asphaltum or gutta percha or any other good so-called non-conductor of electricity, and can concentrate these rays, or waves, to a focus where their effect would be powerful.

"This plan, if at all practicable, could be applied as well across the Atlantic as it could at shorter distances on land.

METHODS OF PRODUCING LIGHT

"The present methods of producing light are very wasteful. The electric light is a considerable advance over the gas burner, as far as efficiency is concerned; yet even the electric light, as at present produced, is very inefficient. Of the energy of coal we only get about onethird per cent. in light in an incandescent lamp; much more, however, in an are lamp, because in that lamp we can reach much higher degrees of incandescence and because we have the advantage of an economical combination of carbon and oxygen.

"It is true that in recent years some notable improvements have been made in gas burners, and that, from a theoretical point of view, it is possible that a far more efficient burner than the ones at present in use may be produced.

"Probably the most important problem electricians are considering is the production of electricity by an efficient process from coal or other cheap substance; at least, most. engineers have this subject in view. I think it is fully as important, and, in the end, perhaps even more important, to apply our skill in discovering how to transmit power from the waterfalls to any distance, for then we would be able to obtain energy, without consuming any material, and our coal fields and forests would remain untouched, whereas the production or electricity from some material will involve the rapid consumption of that material.

"One of the problems which is of great importance, and the solution of which we are very likely to witness in a few years, is the transmission of intelligence to any distance without connection. From present experimental evidence it can be quite safely concluded that an attempt to transmit intelligible sounds through the earth from here, for instance, to the European continent without any cable will succeed beyond a doubt. But it is a question whether such a method, which I have advocated for two years, would be available for all purposes, such, for instance, as the use to which the Commercial Cable is put.

"In that case it is questionable whether the scheme would be practicable. But one thing is certain,, we will be able to transmit universal time all over the earth, and also be able to send in the same way very important short messages from centre to centre.

"Electricity is becoming more and more an important factor in our daily life, and more and more closely connected with our comfort. I think, after a considerable lapse of time, it will become practically necessary for our existence. For instance, there is the question of light. The advantages of the electric light are so great that even with the present wasteful methods we have been able to succeed in making practical use of it.

"But what will be our success when we shall be able to produce a hundred times as much light as we do at the present day? To do this is merely a question of time. Electric power is obtained by the use of dangerous, cumbersome and complicated appliances. But we have electric machines now which require no attention whatever, and which will in a few years supplant all other motors simply because of their higher efficiency and ideal simplicity.

"Even now the cost is very great. Eventually we will be very likely to be able to heat our stoves, warm the water and do our cooking by electricity, and, in fact, to perform any services of this kind required for our domestic needs.

"It has been said that it will be impracticable to heat our houses by means of electricity on account of the great cost of coal; but, as I have said, we are now looking for other methods of getting electrical energy cheap. Even with the present methods any rich man certainly prefers, instead of a stove in his room, to have it warmed by electricity. The method is expensive, but ideal.

"Electric energy can be applied to bicycles, carriages and all sorts of vehicles. It will certainly be applied to rowboats and will probably be so cheap that any man in ordinary circumstances can own a boat and propel it by this means. It would be a gloomy prospect, indeed, for the world if we did not think that this great power will be used to the advantage of the vast majority of the human race and its benefits will not be confined merely to the wealthy.

INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS.

"I am working on some other lines than those of which I have spoken, and if I succeed in my experiments they will be of great interest principally to scientific men. They have also a practical bearing upon what newspapers sometimes call the ‘burning questions of the age.’ These experiments are quite apart from old notions and the lines which heretofore have taken up my attention. I cannot tell how soon I will complete these experiments.

"Most of my experiments heretofore have involved either rapidly alternating currents of high potential, or have reference to these electrical waves which are set up by alternating currents, and which, if very rapid, will not go through electric batteries at all, but will go through the best insulators. If they are less rapid they will go through electrical conductors fairly well. 

"I think I have received full praise for the work in which I have been engaged. There are some experiments which I made a few weeks ago in Philadelphia and St. Louis which interested our scientific men. For their benefit I have a technical account of these experiments in preparation which will be published in the future in the scientific journals.

"Some years ago I demonstrated that a lampate filament could be made to glow from a current from a human hand. The light coming from the hand is produced by the agitation of the particles of molecules of the air. I charge my body with electricity, and from an apparatus which I have devised I can make the electricity vibrate at the rate of a million times a second. The molecules of the air are then violently agitated, so violently that they become luminous, and streams of light then came out from the hand. 

"In the same manner I am able to take in the hand a bulb of glass filled with certain substances and make them spring into light; I make light come to an ordinary lamp in a similar way, simply by holding it in the hand. 

"When I was in London I had the pleasure of performing one of these experiments privately before Lord Rayleigh. I shall never forget the eagerness and excitement with which that famous scientist saw the lamp light up. I can only say that the appreciation of such men amply repays me for the pains I take in working out such phenomena.

TESLA'S TRIBUTE TO AMERICA

"When I arrived upon your hospitable shores I eagerly applied myself to work and to learn, and I have persevered in that course. If I have made any special success in this country I attribute it largely to a feature which is characteristic of both the English and American races; that is, their keen and generous appreciation of any work that they think is good.

"I think this country may well boast of its colleges. Take, for instance, Columbia College, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University or any of the institutions where nowadays electrical engineers are trained.

A GOOD PROFESSION.

"I consider electrical engineering a very good profession for a young man, but it is a profession which requires considerable exercise of intellect. On account of the fascination connected with the study of electricity the profession draws to its ranks an intelligent class of young men.

"Of course it is probably true that the majority of young men who enter the profession are more or less enthusiastic, but in these days a knowledge of electrical engineering has become almost indispensable for engineers in general.

"Nearly every engineer at the present time follows with great interest its developments. And it is the same with the medical profession, for physicians are realizing more and more that electricity will ply a still larger part than it does in the cure of disease.

"For instance, a great amount of electrical energy may be sent into the body by means of high currents, because the energy is dissipated laterally from the body and is not passed through it in a direct manner as it is when a current of low frequency is used. The feeling produced is somewhat different.

"I have also noted the importance of one being prepared for the shock. If you are prepared the effect on the nerves is not nearly as great as when you are not prepared. With these high alternations one feels but little pain in the central portion of the body. A remarkable feature of such high currents is that you feel a burn the moment your hand touches the wire, but beyond that the feeling is scarcely noticeable. I have received currents as high as 300,000 volts, an amount which, if received in any other way, would instantly kill."