SIXTH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM NIKOLA TESLA October 18 20, 2006, Belgrade, SASA, Serbia

Nikola Teslas Legacy

D. Mita Postich1
Abstract The author brings us the image of Nikola Tesla as a philosopher, humanist, ecologist, an inventor and engineer... Through Teslas own words we follow his deep thoughts, the Grand Plan of his Life Work and we see his Genius and his Legacy. Keywords Philosopher, Humanist, Ecologist, Inventor

I. INTRODUCTION
After more than 47 years, my whole working life spent in the New World called America, my thoughts turn back to the years I spent at the Museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia. In the early 50s my friend Aleksandar Marincic and I were docents in the Tesla Museum where we acquainted groups of the high school students and visitors with the accomplishments of Nikola Tesla. We were so young then We were going to remake the World. We must have dreamt some of the dreams our countryman Nikola Tesla had when he left the Old World and came to America. Tesla witnessed the world progress from Stage Coach to airplanes, and he played a large part in its development. Hundreds of patents are proof of that. To list some: In 1880s: the alternating currents machines that power and light the world today, in 1890s: Wireless Radio, Remote Guidance and Control, the X-ray machines, in 1900s: Ultrasound, and Wireless... All this led to the development of airplanes, television, computers, space satellites, the space flights to the Moon, Mars and beyond the Solar System.

Let us now examine Teslas life, work and legacy by quoting the master himself through his published articles. Let us visualize the vast space of human activity, science and technology that his mind was exploring. We will find Tesla mastering Nature in a civilized way (his childhood dream was to tame the Niagara Falls) while maintaining Natures ever so sensitive balances. His profession was engineering and his aim was to create machines that would release clean energy for human use. Tesla describes an important event in his life path (Scientific American, June 5, 1915): From my childhood I had been intended for the clergy. This prospect hung like a dark cloud on my head. After passing eleven years at a public school and a higher institution, I obtained my certificate of maturity and found myself at the critical point of my carrier. Should I disobey my father, ignore the fondest wishes of my mother, or should I resign myself to fate? The thought oppressed me, and I looked to the future with dread. When young Nikola was stricken as a boy with cholera during a terrible epidemic, his father in desperation panic said that he will fulfill Nikolas wishes (to study engineering) just for him to get better. Nikola got better, his father kept his word, and the youth followed his path to the World Stardom

II. WORK
In his work Tesla realized the value of the Energy, that which moves everything, especially in its purest form - the electrical power. He observed that when energy changed form it generated heat and other wasteful forms such as sound (thunder), or the light (lightning). He found that by reducing the density of conducting currents, those wasteful losses were reduced and by achieving lower losses and high efficiency in his devices, he produced voltages in millions of Volts, and electrical discharges that were breaking the air and other matter into minute components. Tesla knew that in order to harness various forms of energy, he had to venture into the Unknown. To venture were no-one has dared. He had to device and expose his apparatus to the verges of breakdowns, destruction and subject them to the limits far beyond those known to science. And he did! He achieved it with such success that some people consider him a magician, a wizard of electrical currents.

Fig. 1. Niagara Falls ----------1 D. Mita Postich, PE Portola Valley, Calif., USA

Teslas work was not limited only to the Electrical Currents of Low and High Frequencies. He ventured into the field of Ultra-Sound where he discovered the extreme values of Resonances (response of various materials to the excitation by the sound and electrical energy). He proposed the Method of High Frequency Heating in the Metallurgical Industry (Todays Microwave Ovens). To improve the ruggedness and efficiency of the hydro and steam turbines he designed a Tesla Turbine. Applying the principle of flute playing (that he played as a boy) and aero-dynamics, he designed the AeroFluidic Computer. He utilized electrical high-tension currents to produce ozone gas to be used in bacterial sterilization and sewage processing. He even ventured into aeronautics by designing a Flying Machine with Vertical Takeoff (a present day Helicopter), and he created the first Robot. In a letter to a friend in England Tesla addresses his thoughts on limitless giro-kinetic energy of the spinning Earth and the Moon: Just imagine all this energy locked in the rotation of the planetary bodies. If we could be able to use just a miniscule fraction of it

explain this phenomena and many of the experiments he performed more than a century ago

III. PHILOSOPHY
Reviewing Teslas life work we see him as Humanitarian, Scientist, Energy Researcher, Inventor, Philosopher and Writer. In his lifetime goals we find a zest for helping the Humanity pointing the way to a healthier and better future, by providing economical energy where it is needed and opening doors to new technologies. Tesla outlined this in his lecture The Problem Of Increasing Human Energy published in the 1900 June issue of the Century Illustrated Monthly. In it he outlines his views on how to improve ourselves and the whole human race. Tesla writes: The Century (magazine) began to press me very hard for completing the article which I have promised to them, and the text of this article required all my energies. I knew that the article would pass into history as I brought, for the first time, results before the world which were far beyond anything that was attempted before, either by myself or others. In this article Tesla reviewed his thoughts outlining his philosophy on life and human activities, his work on Energy and how it could best be utilized for the good of humanity. There, in his deep wisdom he tells us: I cut myself in the finger, and it pains me: this finger is part of me. I see a friend hurt, and it hurts me, too: my friend and I are one. And now I see stricken down enemy I care least for, and still it grieves me. Does this not prove that each of us is only a part of a whole? For ages this idea has been proclaimed in the consummately wise teachings of religion, probably not alone as a means of insuring peace and harmony among men, but as a deeply founded truth. The Buddhist expresses in one way, the Christian in another, but both say the same: We are all one. In his outlined humanitarianism, he applies his Science to a Man allegorically applying natural Laws of Physics to a Human Society telling us that Humanity could be represented by a Mass in movement. As Mass we increase our numbers through reproduction in greater numbers, and as a Movement we should all strive to move in a direction of progress rather than working against each other. Man, however, is not an ordinary mass, consisting of spinning atoms and molecules, and containing merely heatenergy. He is a mass possessed of certain higher qualities by reason of the creative principle of life with which he is endowed... Tesla proceeds in elaborating the problem by examining three possible cases: Increasing the Human Mass, Reducing

Fig. 2. Tesla in his Lab On a subject of very long distance transmission of energy let us consider his thoughts: Energy propagated into distant space in the form of Electro-Magnetic Waves looses its flux density (potential strength) at distance by spreading while energy in the particle form (plasma) does not. Scientists are of the opinion that this Pure Energy propagates through space (vacuum) with the Electro-Magnetic Waves (heat, light, radio) and can be transmitted without the matter as media. Tesla was of the opinion that there is something - an Ether filling that space that enables the energy to transmit. Because of that view he was ridiculed by the main Scientific Community. Recently, scientists are coming back to the Ether Theory trying to explain phenomena such as related to the Zero Point Energy (ZPE), an energy still existing at Absolute Zero Temperature (Moray B. King, J. M. Manley, H. E. Rowe, T. H. Boyer, M. Ruderfer and many others). Tesla was making Fire Balls (a locked energy related to ZPE) in his labs at will. Scientific Community is still searching to

the Forces retarding the Human Mass, and Increasing the Force accelerating the Human Mass. He writes: First, we should pay careful attention to health, substantiating food, by moderation, by regularity of habits, by the promotion of marriage, by conscientious attention to the children, and generally stated, by observance of all the many precepts and laws of religion and hygiene Our offsprings need to be educated to an increased knowledge Water... this precious fluid, which daily infuses new life into us, is likely to be the chief vehicle through which disease and death enter our bodies... By systematic purification and sterilization of drinking-water the human mass will be very considerably increased... And he suggests the way to do it: By improved electrical appliances we are now enabled to produce ozone cheaply and in large amounts, and this ideal disinfectant seems to offer a happy solution of this important question. He addresses weaknesses of character and ills of the mind too: Everyone should consider his body as a priceless gift from one whom he loves above all, as a marvelous work of art, of indescribable beauty and mastery beyond human conception, and so delicate and frail that a word, a breath, a look, nay, a thought, may injure it... Laxity of morals is a terrible evil, which poisons both mind and body, ... A thousand other evils might be mentioned, but all put together, would not equal a single one, the want of food, brought on by poverty, destitution, and famine... Tesla the Environmentalist says: and the cheap production of these (foods) is, therefore, the key of the solution of the all-important problem. Our atmosphere contains an inexhaustible amounts of nitrogen, and could we but oxidize it and produce these compounds, an incalculable benefit for the mankind would follow But here electricity comes to our aid: the dormant affinities of the element are awakened by an electric current of the proper quality

Tesla goes into details of his work on trying to produce the artificial fertilizer. In his experiments in this direction he tried increasing the frequency of the currents, the presence of the water, increased pressure and temperature. And, little by little he said, I advanced. The flame grew larger and larger, and the oxidizing action more and more intense. From an insignificant brush-discharge a few inches long it developed into a marvelous electrical phenomenon, a roaring blaze, devouring the nitrogen of the atmosphere and measuring sixty or seventy feet across. He further says: The result illustrated makes it practicable to oxidize the atmospheric nitrogen in unlimited quantities, merely by the use of cheap mechanical power and simple electrical apparatus... Abundance of cheap and healthful food, not artificial, but such as we are accustomed to, may thus be obtained. This new and inexhaustible source of food-supply will be of incalculable benefit to mankind... As far as human relations, war and peace Tesla was a very determined optimist: A change for the better is imminent, and I shall now endeavor to show what, according to my ideas, will be the first advance toward the establishment of peaceful relations between nations, and by what means it will eventually be accomplished So long as men meet in battle, there will be bloodshed... in war men must be dispensed with: machine must fight machine Then, coming back to his tremendous imagination and high intelligence he continues: Long ago, I conceived the idea of constructing an automation which will mechanically represent me, and which will respond, as I do myself, but, of course, in a much more primitive manner, to extended influences. Such an automation evidently had to have motive power, organs for locomotion, directive organs, and one or more sensitive organs so adapted as to be excited by external stimuli To do so it had to have an element corresponding to the mind, which would effect the control of all its movements and , and cause it to act And the first Robot (the Ultimate Machine) was created. Today, we are witnessing guided missiles, with and without weapons, moon and mars landers, Voyager space probes leaving the solar system and still sending back its radio signals from outside of our solar system, a basic logic advance through todays computers that employ artificial intelligence, and wars where all battlefield action aimed at very specific targets is controlled from the command and control center, or by the pre-arranged software designated to follow the wishes of the Commander in Chief.

Fig. 3. Lightning in Colorado Springs

Finally, the problem: How to Increase the Force Accelerating the Human Mass - the Harnessing of the Suns Energy! Tesla weighs this by far, the most important thought to consider: When we rise (in the morning), we can not fail but to note that all the objects about us are manufactured by machinery... and when we return to our machine made dwelling at night, lest we should forget it, all the material comfort of our home, our cheering stove and lamp, remind us how much we depend on power.. And when there is an accidental stoppage of machinery, when the city is snowbound, or the life-sustaining movement otherwise temporarily arrested, we are affrighted to realize how impossible it would be for us to live the life without motive power. Motive power means work. To increase the force accelerating human movement means, therefore, to perform more work. So we find that the three possible solutions of the great problem of increasing human energy are answered by the three words: food, peace, work. Those words have one object, one end, namely, to increase human energy... Thus we are inspired both by Christianity and Science to do our outmost toward increasing the performance of mankind... And here Tesla goes into details , one by one, on how to achieve this increase of human energy. Let us follow his path: Drawing Energy from the Sun: Whence comes all the motive power? What is the spring that drives all? We see the ocean rise and fall, the rivers flow, the wind, rain, hail and snow beat on our windows, the train and steamers come and go; we hear the rattling noise of carriages, the voices from the street; we feel, smell, and taste; and we think of all of this. And all this movement from the surging of the mighty ocean to that subtle movement concerned in our thought, has but one common cause. All this energy emanates from one single center, one single source - the sun. The sun is the spring that drives all. The sun maintains all human life and supplies all human energy. In this paper Tesla points to the following three steps in using the suns energy: First, realizing the stored energy in the wood that man collected and brought to his cave for his fire pit, second, by utilizing the force of wind in Sailing Ships and windmills, the power of steam engine in Steamships and Trains for travel, and finally by transporting this power through Long Distance Power Lines and using the suns energy by the use of electricity. Tesla spells his views on how to improve the processes involving iron, and he suggests the method using electrical heating and magnetic separation. He also points to the future of Aluminum: But its greatest civilizing potency will be, I believe, in aerial travelBy rendering travel ideally easy it will be the

best means for unifying the heterogeneous elements of humanity. As a first step toward this realization we should produce a lighter storage-battery or get more energy from coal. How true! We are witnessing this now, a century later, aircraft made out of aluminum flying us to distant places making the world smaller, and development of fuel cell to take over the burden of powering our motor vehicles, and at the same time producing less air pollution. Tesla also talks of More Energy from Coal: The advent of the alternating-current system of electric power-transmission marks and epoch in the economy of energy available to man Still more energy is now being obtained from coal by the latest improved gas engine, Deriving energy from coal is evidently to manufacture gas close to the coal store, and to utilize it, either on the spot or elsewhere, to generate electricity for industrial uses in dynamos driven by gas-engines. Natural gas was and still is a powerful source of energy, and as we know now 100 years later, it is a very clean-burning energy source. Teslas efforts resulted in a series of his US Patents, notably #1,061,142, and #1,061,206, both issued May 6, 1913 titled Fluid Propulsion and Turbine. They are Teslas contribution to the field of fluid-dynamics. He points to yet another source of energy: An immense amount of energy is locked up in limestone, for instance, and machines can be driven by liberating the carbonic acid through sulfuric acid or otherwise. I once constructed such an engine and it operated satisfactorily The Windmill and the Tide Power: Since the time immemorial man has had at his disposal a fairly good machine which has enabled him to utilize the energy of the ambient medium. This machine is the Windmill. Today, great advances in technology have been made in harnessing the power form the sun (solar panels converting sun radiation directly into electrical power) and the wind generators. Tesla suggests also the utilization of the Earths Thermal Power: The change in temperature with depth is approximately 1 degree C for every 100 feet (30 meters). Some extremely volatile substances (now available)we might use in our boilers instead of water.

IV. LEGACY
Finally, Tesla wraps it up: It is possible, and even probable, that there will be, in time, other resources of energy opened up, of which we have no knowledge now. We may even find ways of applying forces such as magnetism or gravity for driving machinery without using any other means. Such realizations, though highly improbable, are not impossible. It is interesting to note that Tesla was intrigued by Locked Energy in the form of matter. Today scientists relate energy and matter. Atomic Physics achieved ways to break matter releasing the energy in the process. How to lock energy into matter still eludes us. Fusion is one form of that. Yet, Tesla used to create Fire Balls (a form of Locked Energy) at will. He experimented with Plasma and even proposed a Tesla Death Ray Gun as an ultimate weapon. According to some of his sketches in this Gun Tesla would accelerate the plasma matter, focus it and send it to a distant target. This could be yet another way to transport the energy to a distant place without loosing the flux density. Reviewing his work we see the Grand Plan that he followed in his life. We see his Genius and his love of humanity. We see how his thought with the sence of purpose guided him in his lifetime work: His Polyphase System tamed the mighty Niagara and brought the power to the city. His Tesla Coil produced the ozone for the food preservation. His High Frequency Heating helped Metal Industry. His gas turbine simplified the power generation. His high-frequency transmission started the wireless communication. His robot boat started the automation and computing. And, as one of the key founders of IRE (now the IEEE) he left us his words in the Charter that say: the Societys main goal is to provide technology for the good of the mankind

We should help each other, and work against weaknesses of character, hate and wars, and in favor of education, understanding, and tolerance. All of Teslas work was in this direction. His inventions, his patents and his writings are the proof. He showed us the path. He gave us the way to harness the Natural Energy and transfer it into a form suitable for the use in our human endeavor. He gave us the use of Polyphase Electricity, the Wireless, he pointed the way to releasing the Power of the Sun, as well as Automation and New Technology He lighted the world for us In 1958, the International Committee assigned the Tesla for the Energy Flux International Unit, placing Teslas name permanently into the annals of science and technology together with Andre-Marie Ampere (1775-1836) and the Amp, Alessandro Giusepe Antonio Anastasio Volta (17451827) and the Volt, James Watt (1736-1819) and the Watt, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and the Newton and additional truly great men of science for whom measurements units have been named.

4.1 recognition on us stamps

Teslas name was very well known in his time and he has been honored all over the world. In 1915 (New York Times, Nov. 6-th) the word came that Tesla and Edison were nominated for the Nobel Price. To no-ones surprise neither wanted to share it. In 1975 Tesla was induced into Inventors Hall of Fame. A Giant among Giants

Fig. 5. This year we commemorate 150 years of Teslas birth. He died January 7-th, 1943 But his inventions and his Legacy are still with us Fig. 4. He gave us not only his inventions and a pointer into the future, but he left us also his thoughts and wisdom According to Tesla, we - humans as intelligent beings are all Part of One, we accomplished our work first by using our hands, then we used tools, later we utilized powered tools and intelligent machines to amplify the effects of our work. For these machines we need Power. Therefore, after food and knowledge, the need for Energy and Power is of outmost importance.

SOURCE REFERENCES
[1] The Problem on Increasing Human Energy, by Nikola Tesla, the Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, June 1900, [2] Some Personal Recollections, by Nikola Tesla, Scientific American, June 5, 1915