Wizard

by Marc Seifer

  Westinghouse, however, declined to get involved, but he did advance the inventor the requested funds, even though his company had overextended themselves nearly $70 million in their rapid expansion and changeover to the polyphase system. Incessant legal fees due to the never-ending litigation on patent priority battles, mostly with the countless subsidiaries were also a great drain. Swiss emigrant B. A. Behrend, author of one of the early standard textbooks on AC motors, wrote in his treatise that much to the chagrin of New England Granite’s (a GE subsidiary) patent attorney, he refused to testify against Tesla, “as such evidence would be against [his] better convictions.”14

  This letter was written in 1901, a full year after Judge Townsend’s unequivocal ruling vindicated Tesla as the sole author of the AC polyphase system (see chapter 3).15 Now Westinghouse could finally begin to collect damages and pay back its enormous debt. George Westinghouse sent Tesla a thank you note congratulating himself “for winning the suit” and congratulating Tesla for being “awarded the credit for a great invention.” Westinghouse ended the letter as follows “You know I appreciate your sympathetic interest in my affairs.”16

  In the early part of 1900, Tesla filed for three patents related to wireless communication.17 He made several attempts to contact the elusive Colonel Astor but concentrated most of his efforts on working on an article for the Century. Robert had requested that Tesla write an educational piece about telautomatics and wireless communication. The plan was to decorate the essay with photographs of the remote-controlled boat and the inventor’s fantastic experiments in Colorado, but Tesla had other ideas. Influenced by Western philosophers Friedrich Nietzche and Arthur Schopenhauer about such ideas as the creation of the Übermensch through activation of the will and renunciation of desire and by Eastern philosophers such as Swami Vivekananda on the link between the soul and Godhead, Prâna (life force) and Akâsha (ether) and its equivalence to the universe, force, and matter,18 the inventor decided to compose a once-in-a-lifetime apocalyptic treatise on the human condition and technology’s role in shaping world history.

  Robert pleaded with him “not to write a metaphysical article, but rather an informative one,” but Tesla would not listen. Instead, he sent back a twelve-thousand-word discourse which covered such topics as the evolution of the race, artificial intelligence, the possibility of future beings surviving without the necessity of eating food, the role of nitrogen as a fertilizer, telautomatics, alternative energy sources (e.g., terrestrial heat, wind, and the sun), a description of how wireless communication can be achieved, hydrolysis, problems in mining, and the concept of the plurality of worlds.

  Robert was now in a bind. Neither he nor Gilder wanted to publish a lengthy, controversial, abstract philosophical essay which might damage the magazine. However, they could not simply cross out sections they were unhappy with, for they were dealing with a man who was born a genius and a friend who had contributed two previous gems that added greatly to the prestige of their publication. How to approach the hypersensitive savant was a difficult problem which Robert did not relish.

  March 6, 1900

  Dear Tesla,

  I just can’t see you misfire this time. Trust me in my knowledge of what the public is eager to have from you.

  Keep your philosophy for a philosophical treatise and give us something practical about the experiments themselves…You’re making a task of a simple thing and for all I have said, forgive my clumsy way of saying it because of my love and respect for you, and because I have had nearly 30 years of judging what the public finds interesting.

  Faithfully yours,

  (believe me never more faithfully)

  RUJ19

  March 6, 1900

  My dear Robert,

  I heard you are not feeling well and hope that it is not my article that makes you sick.

  Yours sincerely,

  N. Tesla20

  Tesla knew what he was doing. He had decided, once and for all, to put down a significant percentage of the knowledge he had amassed into one treatise, and there was no way he was going to change it. Most likely Robert conferred with Gilder. Clearly, the essay was brilliant and original, and the more they read it, the more they realized its many layers of wisdom. The best tack to take at this point, they reasoned, was to work to clarify the piece by using subheadings, by including all of the startling electrical photos from Colorado, and the telautomaton, and by having Tesla more carefully explain the details of his inventions, and then hope for the best. The published essay began as follows:

  The Onward Movement of Man

  Of all the endless variety of phenomena which nature presents to our senses, there is none that fills our minds with greater wonder than that inconceivably complex movement which, in its entirety, we designate as human life. Its mysterious origin is veiled in the forever impenetrable mist of the past, its character is rendered incomprehensible by its infinite intricacy, and its destination is hidden in the unfathomable depths of the future.

  Inherent in the structure matter, as seen in the growth of crystals, is a life-forming principle. This organized matrix of energy, as Tesla comprehended it, when it reaches a certain stage of complexity, becomes biological life. Now, the next step in the evolution of the planet was to construct machines so that they could think for themselves, and so Tesla created the first prototype, his teleautomaton. Life-forms need not be made out of flesh and blood.

  As an environmentalist, Tesla was concerned about personal hygiene, air and water pollution, and the needless waste of natural resources. Through concentration on energy problems, solutions could be achieved. Thus, many of Tesla’s inventions were created specifically to maximize efficient use of energy and prove out the principle that a self-directed thinking machine could alter the course of civilization by gaining greater control over the evolution of the planet.

  In the middle of the treatise, the inventor explained in vivid detail the mechanism behind his wireless transmitter. Numerous photographs of his experiments at Colorado Springs also enhanced the impact of the message. Thirty-five pages later, he ended the treatise with a discussion of the cognitive hierarchy and the speculation that “intelligent beings on Mars…if there are [any]” most likely utilize a wireless energy-distribution system that interconnects all corners of their planet. Tesla concluded: “The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter—for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.”21

  When the article appeared in the June issue of the Century, it created a sensation. Tesla circulated advance copies to friends, such as Mrs. Douglas Robinson, one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,22 Julian Hawthorne, Stanford White, and John Jacob Astor. In Astor’s case, Tesla included his wireless patent applications, forwarding “this matter to your home, instead of your office [for secrecy reasons]…The patents give me an absolute monopoly in the United States not only for power purposes,” the inventor continued in another letter to the colonel, “but also for establishing telegraphic communication…no matter how great the distance.”23 Those who were Tesla supporters rallied around him, Nature gave it a “favorable response,” and the French quickly translated it for their readers,24 but those who were against him now had a new supply of ammunition for a frontal assault.

  The stage was set in March 1900, when Carl Hering was elected president of the AIEE; Professor Pupin was a close second.25 Hering, who would also become editor in chief of Electrical World & Engineer, set a new tone for the electrical community. Just as he had called into question Tesla’s priority work on AC a decade before, when he had backed Dobrowolsky, he also challenged Tesla’s credibility in the field of wireless. Other opponents included Reginald Fessenden, who was trying to obtain competing patents on tuned circuits, and such traditional rivals as Lewis Stillwell, Charles Steinmetz, Tom Edison, and Elihu Thomson. The first potshots appeared in th
e Evening Post26 and then in Popular Science Monthly.

  Tesla had suggested that the sum total of human energy on the planet, which he called M, could be multiplied by its “velocity,” V, which was measured by technological and social progress. Just as in physics, the total human force could be calculated as MV2. If humans go against the laws of religion and hygiene, the total human energy would diminish. In a primitive or agrarian-based society the energy would progress arithmetically. However, if the new generation had a “higher degree of enlightenment,” then the “sum total of human energy” would increase geometrically. Tesla was suggesting that with his inventions of the induction motor, AC power transmission, and his remote-controlled robots, human progress would evolve at ever increasing rates.

  In a highly visible discourse under the banner title “Science and Fiction,” an anonymous writer with the nom de plume “Physicist” vehemently attacked this premise. “Unhappily,” this critic wrote, “Mr. Tesla in his enthusiasm to progress…neglects to state which direction is the proper one for the human mass to follow, north, south, east, west, toward the moon or Sirius or to Dante’s Satan in the centre of the earth…Of course, the whole notion…is absurd.”

  The editorial, which continued for six columns, called into question Tesla’s invention of the telautomaton, his belief that fighting machines would replace soldiers on the field—“international bull-fights…or potatoraces might do just as well”—his work in wireless, and his support for the plurality of worlds hypothesis. The author suggested that the Century, in future issues, should subject these types of articles to a scientific board “for criticism and revision if only for the protection against bogus inventions and nonsensical enterprises.” Hurling epithets as if in combat with a mortal enemy, “Physicist” concluded, “The editors [of the Century] apparently impute to their readers a desire to be entertained at all costs…They evidently often do not know science from rubbish and apparently seldom make any effort to find out the difference.”27

  The onslaught continued in Science and in a follow-up editorial again in Popular Science Monthly, this time by a mysterious “Mr. X.”

  “Science (Pseudo) contains an article from xxx. ‘Physicist’ is not in it,” Tesla wrote to Johnson, adding sarcastically, “It is also highly complimentary to the editors of your great magazine.”28 Other daily papers also attacked the inventor’s controversial claims.

  Tesla, however, maintained a blind eye to this credibility problem and audaciously or foolheartedly followed up this article with the infamous piece “Talking With the Planets” in Colliers, which we reviewed in an earlier chapter. Making no secret of his identity, Reginald Fessenden, who was now embroiled in a legal dispute with Tesla, vehemently wrote in Hering’s journal that the source of “the so-called Martian signals have long been known…and only the crassest ignorance could attribute any such origin.” Having at one time been “a serious obstacle to multiplex systems, [they are now all but] eliminated.” Fessenden said the signals were due to “street cars, lightning flashes and the gradual electriciation of the aerial. Furthermore, the different kinds are easily distinguishable. Those ignorant of the subject might mistake them for intelligent signals.”29

  Ever since his return to New York, Tesla made repeated efforts to rekindle his friendship with Astor, but the gadabout was proving difficult to corner. Over the summer, the Johnsons tried to woo the inventor to Maine for a vacation, but he was too intent on contacting the multimillionaire.

  Nikola Tesla at the height of his fame in 1894

  Above The Chicago World’s Fair at night, illuminated by Westinghouse Corporation utilizing the Tesla AC polyphase system.

  (Opposite above) Tesla displaying wireless fluorescent tubes before the Royal Society in England, 1892.

  (Opposite below) Thomas Edison (center) at his Menlo Park invention factory. Seated to Edison’s left is Charles Batchelor, key partner and the man who introduced Tesla to Edison, probably in France in 1883.

  (Right) Thomas Commerford Martin, editor of the 1893 text The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla, the only collected works produced during Tesla’s lifetime. (MetaScience Foundation)

  (Above) The Waldorf-Astoria, where Tesla lived from 1897 to 1920. (MetaScience Foundation)

  (Left) Katharine Johnson, who had a long-standing platonic love affair with the inventor. (Little Brown)

  (Opposite above) Mark Twain in Tesla’s laboratory in 1894. (MetaScience Foundation

  (Opposite below) Robert Underwood Johnson, editor of Century magazine and one of Tesla’s closest friends. (Little Brown)

  (Right) Niagara Falls at the turn of the nineteenth century.

  (Below right) Edward Dean Adams, one of Tesla’s financial backers and the man responsible for the Niagara Falls hydroelectric project. (MetaScience Foundation)

  (Below left) C. E. L. Brown, an important Tesla supporter and the first engineer to transmit AC polyphase currents over long distances. (MetaScience Foundation)

  (Above) The patent plaque at Niagara Falls, listing Tesla as the primary inventor of the AC polyphase system. (Marc J. Seifer)

  (Left) Charles Steinmetz, initially a Tesla supporter and then one of the inventor’s most vigorous opponents throughout their lifetimes. (MetaScience Foundation

  Nikola Tesla displaying his invention of the cold wireless lamp without filament. (Electrical Review, 1898).

  August 2, 1900

  Dear Mr. Tesla,

  I have been thinking of you all day and all evening as I do so often…I sat on a little hillside this afternoon looking over green meadows to the sea beyond…and wishing that I could loan you my eyes that you might have my visions and drink in the beauty of the day…You are as silent as only you know [how] to be…Do call us.

  Yours faithfully,

  Katharine Johnson30

  August 12, 1900

  My dear Mrs. Johnson,

  Just a line to tell you that I never can and never shall forget the Filipovs—they have given me too much trouble.

  Yours sincerely,

  N. Tesla31

  Unable to relax until he settled things with Astor, Tesla tried again, having forfeited the chance for a needed respite.

  August 24, 1900

  My dear Colonel Astor,

  I still remember when you told me, that if I could only show you great returns on your investment, you would gladly back me up in any undertaking, and I hope not in a selfish, but in a higher interest that your ideas have not changed since…[Re: oscillators, motors and lighting system] not less than $50,000,000 [can be]…made out of my invention. This may seem to you exaggeration, but I honestly believe that it is an understatement.

  Is it possible that you should have something against me? Not hearing from you I cannot otherwise interpret your silence…

  Finally, Astor replied, stating that he was “glad to get your letter, and will get back to you.”32 But this was really a decoy procedure, for Astor continued to slip away. Tesla shot off another round of letters outlining his progress with his oscillators, fluorescent light—“the commercial value…if rightly explored, is simply immense”—and wireless enterprise,33 but again Astor balked.

  Astor never directly told Tesla his real feelings. His reluctance in advancing the partnership suggests that he was angry with Tesla for not exploiting the oscillators and fluorescent lights in 1899, as he had promised, but had instead run off to Colorado Springs to conduct his wireless folly.

  Certainly the onslaught in the papers injured Tesla’s reputation, but it is this author’s belief that the attack by the press had little if anything to do with Astor’s turnabout. Tesla had deceived him. As wealthy as he was, Astor wanted to invest in a sure thing. The oscillators and the fluorescent lights seemed practically ready for market, but rather than perfect these inventions, Tesla took the capital to go off on another venture and returned without a dime. Astor was enraged but too much of a gentleman to even let Tesla know. With Stanford White and Mrs. Douglas Robins
on behind him, Tesla explored a fresh lead.

  29

  THE HOUSE OF MORGAN (1901)

  J. P. Morgan towered above all the Wall Street people like Samson over the Philistines.

  NIKOLA TESLA1

  In May 1900, Gentleman Jim Corbett was KO’d by James Jeffries in a championship bout held in Coney Island. Tesla, an avid boxing fan, probably attended. Back at the hotel, a Serbian youth with a familiar name had left a message. It was Anna’s son, the one and only girl Tesla had ever fallen in love with. Through the years they had maintained contact, so Tesla had been notified of the boy’s arrival. However, he was not prepared for the career that the lad had chosen.

  “I want to be a boxer,” the boy proclaimed.

  Unnerved by this announcement, Tesla conferred with Stanford, who helped set up the youth at a boxing school near the Garden. Every so often Tesla would go down to the gym to follow the boy’s progress; finally, it was decided that he was ready to enter the ring. Stanford had done his best to set up a reasonable match, but the youth persisted in seeking out a tougher opponent.

  One blow knocked the boy unconscious, and he died shortly thereafter in the hospital. “Tesla grieved for him as though he was his own son.”2

  In the fall of 1900, J. Pierpont Morgan announced the wedding of his daughter Louisa to Herbert Satterlee, Morgan’s latter-day biographer. It was a magnificent event with a guest list numbering twenty-four hundred. The Serbian wunderkind felt quite at home at the gala occasion, for many of his friends were there, including John Jacob and Lady Astor, Mrs. Douglas Robinson and her brother Teddy Roosevelt (whom Tesla had met at Mrs. Robinson’s Madison Avenue home in March of 1899), William Rankine, Edward Dean Adams, Darius Ogden Mills, Chauncey DePew, and Stanford White. Other guests included Jacob Schiff, Henry Clay Frick, Grover Cleveland, August Belmont, President William McKinley, and Thomas Edison. Morgan was in an exceedingly good mood and personally greeted each guest with a warm handshake.3 “I read your article in the Century, Mr. Tesla, and was very impressed.”