Nikola Tesla Books
IN SEARCH OF NIKOLA TESLA I decided to turn the tables a little so I asked Senator Carter how he had first become interested in Tesla's work. The senator explained that he the came from one of the economically poorest areas of Canada province of Newfoundland - and had always wanted to do something to improve his place of birth. At university he studied science but had a growing feeling that he should go into politics. This vocation had been a success for he had risen to the position of Canadian senator. But he retained his early dream to do something to improve his province and this was why he had first become interested in Tesla power transmission. In addition to the massive island in the gulf of the St Lawrence river, Newfoundland province includes the barren and sparsely populated sea coast of Labrador on the Canadian mainland. With the building of a large hydroelectric project Labrador had suddenly become an energy-rich region, producing power which was badly needed by the rest of the province. The only problem was that, geographically, this power had to pass through the Province of Quebec before it could be fed across the Straits of Belle Isle to the island of Newfoundland. Since power was essentially being sold from Labrador to Quebec and then back to Newfoundland again, the province found itself in the ironic position of paying a stranger for its own energy. The Senator hoped that Tesla Transmission could be used to transport power direct from the hydro-electric generating station to Newfoundland homes and industry without the need for transmission lines across the Province of Quebec. I could appreciate the sense of the scheme but reflected on the gulf between scientist and politician. To the scientist broadcast power was a revolutionary and world-shattering concept; by contrast, the politician was forced to think in terms of limited and realizable goals. Politically the merit of a scheme lies in the real possibility of its achievement rather than in abstract paper dreams. Yet I couldn't help being both shocked and amused that Tesla's grandiose vision of the future of the world should have been reduced to interprovincial politics. I came back to earth and suggested that my conclusions were that broadcast power did not look like a very efficient way of transmitting energy. Andrew Microwski interrupted me: I'm afraid that Dr Puharich has 107
