Beginnings
t was back in the 1980's when I first heard the name Nikola Tesla. I was at the local library where a woman was flipping, quite unsuccessfully judging by her expression, through the card catalogue. The librarian turned to me and mentioned that the woman was looking for information about an eccentric scientist who long ago had honeycombed Shoreham Village with mysterious tunnels. “I think his name was Tesla.” She shook her head and nodded in the direction of the card catalogue. “She's been at it for years.”
I didn’t think much about the exchange at the time. I knew nothing of Tesla, the Wardenclyffe tower or the fact that Tesla's lab was less than a mile from my home. It wasn’t until 1996 when Tesla's name came back to me.
Marc Seifer, noted Tesla expert and author, came to Shoreham to give a power point presentation.
I attended the talk only because Dr. Seifer was a published writer, a rare commodity in our little east end town. The fact hat he was to talk about Tesla had nothing to do with it. The name didn’t even ring a bell. I sat fascinated as Seifer went through all the inventions Tesla created:
alternating current systems (which supply power for almost every electrical device we use today), the groundwork for radio, the Tesla coil (used for wireless communication), early versions of fluorescent and neon lights, hydroelectric power, remote control, and much more.
Why, I wondered, had I never heard of this important inventor before? Then I remembered the woman in the library.
My curiosity was aroused. In his talk, Dr. Seifer revealed that the Peerless Photo Company, a building I passed every day, had once been the Tesla lab. The next time I drove by, I slowed the car and looked carefully. For the first time I noticed a street sign at the corner which read, Telsa street. T-E-S-L-A. Why had I never noticed it? And why, I wondered, had no one thought to correct it?
From then on, I was on the lookout for evidence that Tesla had at one time been present. I automatically assumed he had lived here, but I found no information about his house. How could I know that I would one unwittingly buy the house he lived in, and that forty five years after I first heard his name, I would be on a plane to to Belgrade to accept the honorary title of Tesla Ambassador from Serbian Ambassador Ljiljana Nikšić, Acting Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.
It has been along and magical journey from the first mention of Tesla's name to the publication of my book. I hope, in the coming months, you will join me at this website as I share information that was left out of my book, as well as other random thoughts. I’ll also be looking forward to hearing from you!