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2 Reflections from Tesla's Descendent

William H. Terbo

Reprinted from Proceedings of the International Tesla Symposium, 1990

This is the fourth biennial Tesla Symposium. I've had the pleasure of making some opening remarks at each one. My appearance here has a twofold purpose. First, as a descendant of Nikola Tesla, I hope to provide a link between the man we honor and those of us who are here to honor him. Second, as a representative of the Tesla Memorial Society and its Honorary Chairman, I want to reaffirm the cooperation between the International Tesla Society and the Tesla Memorial Society in moving toward our common aims. Simply put, they are honoring and perpetuating the memory and ideals of Nikola Tesla through

Before I begin, let me ask the Executive Secretary of the Tesla Memorial Society, Nicholas Kosanovich, to stand and be recognized. Nick, more than anyone, is responsible for the continued success of the Society. He does yeoman work. I don't know how he does it, I certainly haven't been able to get into harness that way.

Recent Events and Accomplishments

First, let me talk about some of the events and accomplishments that have happened recently. They all tend to promote the name of Tesla. What we are trying to do is gain the recognition for Tesla that he deserves and these all work to build toward that aim.

Pennsylvania and New York have issued proclamations naming July 10 as Nikola Tesla Day. At least six U. S. Representatives and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan have made speeches in Congress commemorating Tesla's July 10 Birthday. When

we get copies of the Congressional Record, we will certainly make them available to the

Another item that has been a long time in the works and has come to fruition is a plaque of Tesla at the United Engineering Center Headquarters [345 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10017] near the United Nations in Manhattan (Figure 1). That is also the International

and plaques that connects the lobby and the first floor, the most desirable and prestigious location there. It was originally a gift of the Yugoslav Government and meant to be placed on the New Yorker Hotel, where Tesla died. The New Yorker Hotel, of course, now is a dormitory for Dr. Moon's Unification Church, and there has always been some difficulty in getting cooperation on that account. So I think a better solution was to have

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it installed at the Headquarters of the IEEE and, with their assistance, this was done. Another plaque was just installed in Belgrade, about 100 years after the fact, to commemorate Tesla's visit to that city in 1892.

In June 1990, the IEEE and the New York Power Authority dedicated the Adams Hydro-

support that we are getting from the IEEE. It certainly is welcome, because having the scientific community support the name of Tesla is always very important.

Figure 1. A plaque honoring the achievements of Nikola Tesla. Now located in the United Engineering Headquarters in Manhattan, it was originally to be placed at the Hotel New Yorker, where Tesla had been a long time resident. - William Terbo

First, he's had a bust of Tesla created (Figure 2). It is a very good likeness of Tesla in his prime, in his late thirties. The bust has been purchased by donation and is available to be given to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. It presently is in the Engineering Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It is a fairly costly item and money has been raised by a number of parties including the rock group that goes by the name

on their part. They're quite successful, incidentally.

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instrumental in starting a campaign of signatures of people to make a petition. His aim is to gather 100,000 signatures. Although it sounds like a formidable number, he's got 37,000 already. These signatures are gathered not only by professional institutions, colleges and

of 51 power generating Utilities.

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Tesla Biographies

Although its schedule was previously unannounced, I can now mention that Yugoslav TV is now midway through a process of making six, 40-minute biographical episodes on Tesla's life. Those are going to be in Serbo-Croatian, but probably will be subtitled in English. In addition, a 60-minute fully English language film version is planned to be available. I understand that three of the six, 40-minute segments are already in the can and that they are aiming for a 1991 screening date which will commemorate his 135th birth date anniversary. In addition, Henry Golas, who has the film rights to Margaret Cheney's book "Tesla: Man Out Of Time," is still proceeding with his efforts to get that into production. I know of at least two other partially funded videos for public TV that are in the preproduction stage.

In the area of books, Margaret Cheney has indicated that a new hard bound edition of her book "Tesla: A Man Out Of Time" will be available shortly. Another book is being written by Dusko Doder, a very prominent newspaperman. He was the "U S News and World Report" Bureau Chief in Beijing at the time of the unrest and is now based in Belgrade, acting as Bureau Chief for Moscow and Belgrade. He has already published a book which has been quite successful, called "Gorbachev: Heretic In The Kremlin" which has been well received and is now starting on a biography of Tesla. A third book, by a young woman,

A. Klami, is a dramatization of crucial events Tesla's younger life. It has had several professional readings and a commercial production is being organized. I don't know whether it will appear on Broadway, but it will appear someplace.

As far as the Tesla Memorial Society is concerned, we've released our Tesla Journal double issue for 1989/90. It is available in the bookstore. It's a good solid piece of scholarship.

The Nikola Tesla Museum

Dr. Marincic will be speaking later in the program and will discuss the Tesla Museum in Belgrade. Certain renovation has been done so it's in really top shape. I think this is important because the archives are there and climate control in that building has to be very carefully monitored. I think that's the essence of the renovation that they've done. It's a beautiful mansion from the turn of the century, like one of the three or four story granite mansions that were once seen on 5th Avenue in New York City (Figure 3). Also in

right away and are going to require a lot of long term effort. First, there is solid planning going ahead for a museum at Niagara Falls which will incorporate some of the subterranean tunneling that was done for the original power installation (Figure 4). There are still remnants of the old power plant down there and it can make an interesting tourist attraction, almost like investigating tombs or something of that sort. It has all been sealed up for decades. These tunnels can be the basis for a tourist attraction that will certainly mention Tesla prominently.

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building next to it is intact and being used for storage. We are trying to get a formal dedication of that site. The building and surrounding complex is privately owned by Agfa-

the side, so we may have a possibility of getting their cooperation. It won't happen overnight, that's for sure.

Of course we're looking forward to 1993, the 50th Anniversary of Tesla's death, as an appropriate time to have an exhibition at the Smithsonian. Because of the bent of the Smithsonian, that's going to take a lot of work, but I think something will happen and we're marshalling our forces.

Figure 3. The Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. — Nikola Tesla Museum

The Tesla/Westinghouse Power Generating System

Company, that was made as a presentation in getting new subscribers to their system. The real age of electric power, in the modern sense, started in Niagara Falls on November 16,

the Niagara Mohawk Company) had about 45,000 Effective Horsepower capacity and was marketing this new source of power to industries and municipalities in the area. In their

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Some of the companies listed were:

The Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which is the predecessor of Alcoa. They were using 5,000 horsepower for the electrolytic production of metallic aluminum. They were the largest commercial user (as opposed to municipalities).

Carborundum, who used 2,000 horsepower for electrolytic production of abrasives.

A company called Castner Electrolytic Alkali Company (there is a chemical process called the Castner Process) used 2,400 horsepower for electrolytic production of pure caustic soda.

Union Carbide was making calcium carbide, using the power for electric furnaces.

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Personal Thoughts

Let me talk for just a moment about the character of Tesla. Much has been written about the public persona of Nikola Tesla, usually dealing with the creation and implementation of his inventions and discoveries. They show a man of intellect, dedication and perseverance, but an over abundance of these quantities creates a picture of a somber and sober person with a single-mindedness that seems to preclude a more human side.

Much has also been speculated on the private side of Nikola Tesla. This speculation was much influenced by his fastidious dress, his formal manners and his precise writing style, Aside from the more outrageous speculations, the conclusion was usually drawn that this

Figure 5. The 1901 Promotional Brochure of the Niagara Falls Power Company. - Niagara Falls Power Company

Now, over a period of time, I have thought of this and it occurred to me that I may very well have a unique insight into Tesla's private personality through a comparison with my father. The parallels in their lives far exceed the common gene pool formed by their blood relationship. (My Grandmother was Tesla's sister, Angelina.)

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Except for being 30 years apart, the list of parallels is really staggering:

Lika, the Croatian county of their birth in what is now Yugoslavia, had a special status and responsibility for Serbs as it was part of the Austro-Hungarian military frontier. The Ottoman Empire's boarder was that close to Vienna, a situation that lasted for a period of hundreds of years.

There was no higher education readily available in the provinces. You had to go, as in my fathers case, to Budapest.

Both became engineers and worked for similar lengths of time for the Budapest Telephone System.

Doth emigrated to the United States at 28 years of age.

And, as inventors, made their most important inventions in their middle to late thirties.

Both acquired, but let slip from their hands, a considerable fortune.

Now, I knew my father pretty well, even better from the perspective of the years since his passing And 1 see a human being with human qualities and frailties, and it seems reasonable to attribute to Tesla some measure of these same qualities and frailties.

This brings me to an unexpected point. My father had a sense of humor and therefore, Tesla must have had a sense of humor that has been overlooked in the myth of his private self. (There certainly aren't any books that are titled "Favorite Jokes of Nikola Tesla".)

My father was a story teller, and usually was recalling things that happened when he was a boy. I heard them all dozens of times. I can't repeat them because they'd lose their essence in his way of telling them but my father could never finish these stories without collapsing in laughter. He would get into the memory of some story and would just get helpless with laughter. We all knew what the end of it was and he'd struggle through ultimately. It was an infectious laugh and we didn't mind the same old stories. I still remember them clearly.

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About the Author

Born April 10, 1930, to Nicholas J. and Alice H. Terbo in Detroit, Michigan, William H. Terbo is a Founding Director and Honorary Chairman of the Tesla Memorial Society. His

Mr. Terbo's father modeled his professional life after Nikola Tesla, a man 30 years his senior. He was the only family member to join Tesla in the United States, immigrating in 1914, 30 years after his uncle. With such a family history in science and engineering, Mr. Terbo's higher education was a matter of "which engineering school" rather than "what area of concentration." He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, an area close to his father's specialty.

Mr. Terbo began his professional career as a Stress Analyst in Detroit before moving to Los Angeles where he specialized in computer oriented systems for the Space Program. Since 1973, he has been involved in Strategic Planning and Market Research for the Telecommunications Industry. Working as the Manager of Market Planning and Research for RCA Global Communications, Inc., and more recently as the Senior Staff Member for Corporate Development with MCI International, Inc.

William Terbo can be reached at 21 Maddaket, Southwyck Village, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

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