Month: April 2013

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My visit with the cast of Tesla off-Broadway

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While in New York for the ASJA conference this weekend I had the opportunity to visit with the cast of the new off-Broadway play called Tesla. They had heard about my Nikola Tesla book through the grapevine (most notably Nikola Lonchar of the Tesla Science Foundation) and asked me to talk to them about the personalities of key players like Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Mark Twain, and of course, Nikola Tesla.

Meeting the cast of Tesla off Broadway

Photo courtesy of Sanja Bestic

I’ll have more details later but for now I’ll just tell you that I enjoyed the experience immensely. Sanja Beštić, director of the play, and Sheri Graubert, the playwright, along with other members of the cast welcomed me to a hot New York studio for two hours of Tesla-heavy conversation.

With Sanja Bestic and Sheri Graubert

Our session ended abruptly as someone had reserved the studio, but we managed to squeeze in a few photos. Here I am with the star of the show, James Lee Taylor, who plays the younger Nikola Tesla.

With James Lee Taylor

A quick stop at the local Dean & Deluca for a bite with Sanja and Sheri and then I was on my way to Penn Station and a long Amtrak ride home. But I expect to be back in New York in late May to catch opening night of Tesla at Theatre 80. I hope you’ll join me.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Tesla Off Broadway and Me

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Tesla: Wizard of ElectricityAs I write this the cast and crew and director and writer are hard at work rehearsing for a new off-Broadway play about Nikola Tesla. Appropriately called Tesla, the play was written by Sheri Graubert and is being directed by Serbian-American director, Sanja Bestic. Here is their promo photo (Click on the photo to go to their Facebook page):

Tesla Off BroadwayThe play’s lead is James Lee Taylor, an English actor and model. Six actors take the stage, three in dual roles. Tesla explores the multiple facets of Nikola Tesla’s personality, his inventions far ahead of their time, and his relationships with Thomas Edison and others. Opening night is May 23, 2013 at Theater 80 on St. Marks Place in New York City. That’s the East Village for those in the know.

I’ll have more on the play, the actors, the director, and the playwrite in future posts. The purpose of this post is to introduce the play. Oh, and to surreptitiously mention that I have been invited to give a lecture about Tesla to the cast on Saturday, April 27th. As previously mentioned I’ll be at the annual American Society of Journalists and Authors conference in New York this weekend, so while I’m there I’ll meet with the play’s principals. The goal is to trade insights into Tesla the man as the cast prepares to introduce Nikola Tesla to the theater-going public.

I’m very excited for this opportunity. In a way it’s reminiscent of Tesla hobnobbing with actors, writers, musicians and the like at The Players, a club started by the famous Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth. And yes, it was that Edwin Booth, older brother to the more infamous John Wilkes Booth, just one of several links between Nikola Tesla and Abraham Lincoln. But that, as they say, is a story for another time.

More information on the release of Tesla: Wizard of Electricity.

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Abraham Lincoln Dies – April 15, 1865

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Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln died today. Well, 148 150 years ago today. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth while Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln were in Ford’s Theatre watching the comedic play, Our American Cousin. It was April 14th, 1865. Good Friday. He was carried across the street to the Petersen House where he died the next morning, April 15, at 7:22 am. “Now he belongs to the ages,” spoke Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, before engaging in a 12-day chase that ended with the death of the assassin.

Abraham Lincoln's box Ford's Theatre

All of this is the stuff of history, well known to most everyone. Less well known are some of the fascinating details. For example, as the crowd at the theater slowly came to realize what had happened a cry rang out “Is there a surgeon in the house?” There was, Dr. Charles A. Leale, a recent graduate of Bellevue Hospital Medical College and commissioned as assistant surgeon only six days previously. As luck would have it, Leale was seated in the dress circle of Ford’s Theater that night, mere steps from Lincoln’s box. His quick action likely prolonged Lincoln’s life by several hours, though he couldn’t save him from his ultimate fate. Leale’s clinical report gives us a detailed record of the event.

The gun used by Booth was a Philadelphia deringer, a small large-bore pistol fired by loading a percussion cap, some black gunpowder, and a lead ball. Since it can only fire a single shot without reloading, Booth dropped the gun on the floor of the box, slashed Major Henry Rathbone with a large knife, then leaped to the stage. The gun now is on display in the museum of Ford’s Theatre.

John Wilkes Booth derringer

Into trivia? Here’s something with which you impress your friends. Deringers were made with “rifling,” that is, grooves in the barrel to spin the ball. Unlike most derringers where the rifling creates a clockwise twist, the one used by Booth had rifling that turned counterclockwise. No matter what the twist, the rifling is designed to improve accuracy by creating a more predictable flight of the ball or bullet. Needless to say the direction of rifling was a moot point since Booth shot Lincoln at very close range.

Ah, but what happened to the lead ball? Well, it now sits in a glass case at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland. Along with it are several skull fragments, just in case you’re into “morbid oddities.”

There is much more to come on the science of Abraham Lincoln. Stay tuned!

More about Abraham Lincoln.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and the e-book Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. He is currently writing a book on Thomas Edison.

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More details about Tesla: Wizard of Electricity book release

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Tesla: Wizard of ElectricityI mentioned a week or so ago that Tesla: Wizard of Electricity is scheduled to be published on June 30, 2013. The book is currently being printed and will be in the warehouse by June 20th. I can now share some additional details about the publishing process. [By the way, click on the book image (left) to get to my Facebook author’s page.]

  • The initial print run will be 10,000 books. This is considered a large printing for a non-fiction book but if it sells well – which I very much hope and expect it will – we could actually have to go to a second printing. [Hint: Get your First Edition while they last.] Interest in the man, his inventions, and his Wardenclyffe lab has been skyrocketing as of late. And with the Tesla Science Foundation expanding its plans, clearly this is a great time for Nikola Tesla.
  • Tesla: Wizard of Electricity is visually pleasing. It is jam-packed with many photographs of him and his experiments, some historical and some never-before-seen. The interior is in full color and includes sidebars and pull-out quotes to make it both interesting and informative for all readers. A foil treatment on the cover should make it stand out on bookstore shelves (and your shelves at home).
  • Because Sterling Publishing is a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble the book will be “on a promotion.” That means it will be placed prominently near the front of each of B&N’s 700 stores. That means high traffic and great visibility.

I’ll also have some books in my personal possession for book signings and presentation events. See my Tesla Events and Speaking Engagements page for more information on where you can find me.

So how much do people know about Nikola Tesla? Well, if you extrapolate from the video below the answer might unfortunately be, well, not as much as you might expect. I hope to change all that by bringing Tesla to the people with Tesla: Wizard of Electricity.

More on Tesla: Wizard of Electricity.

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CPRC Annual Meeting at Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center – April 22 (Earth Day)

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CPRC logoPlans are coming together for the Annual Meeting of the Chesapeake-Potomac Regional Chapter (CPRC) of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). Yes, that was a mouthful, but the important point here is that CPRC has chosen Earth Day (April 22nd) for its annual meeting. And what a meeting it is shaping up to be.

In case you missed it, Science Traveler has become an Associate Sponsor of CPRC (and yours truly is honored to be the current CPRC President). CPRC is “a professional forum for individuals from private industry, academia, and government agencies who are engaged in the study and analysis and solutions for environmental problems.” Because of our location near our nation’s capital and the Chesapeake Bay being the dominant ecological feature, it is eminently appropriate that the chapter hold its meeting at the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (CBEC). I’ll have a more in-depth profile of CBEC soon; for now I’ll focus on the keynote speaker for the meeting – Tim Wheeler.

Tim Wheeler is the environment and Chesapeake Bay reporter for the Baltimore Sun. He has received many awards for his work, most recently the 2012 “Excellence in Journalism” award from the Renewable Resources Foundation for his reporting on efforts to clean up Baltimore Harbor. As a former president of the Society of Environmental Journalists and a long-time writer about the region, Tim is the perfect keynote.

Tim’s talk: Saving the Bay: 30 years and Counting

There will be much more at this event. More speakers. More food. More drink. And for those who venture out a day early, a guided bird walk, kayaking, and a chance to hobnob with a raptor or two (or three).

More information on the CPRC meeting can be found on the CPRC website.

More about CPRC and SETAC.

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Winner of ASJA Educational Foundation Scholarship Award

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David J. KentThe weekend started with a very welcome email. Alexandra Owens, the Executive Director of the ASJA Educational Foundation, wrote to tell me, well, I’ll let her say it in her own words:

It is with great pleasure that I hereby notify you of your selection as a recipient of a 2013 ASJA Writers Conference scholarship. Congratulations! We were very impressed with the quality and number of applications we received, and yours was indeed a standout. We are very happy to offer you a place at the Conference.

For those who don’t know already, ASJA is the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Their annual conference is at the end of April in New York City. I had applied for a scholarship that would cover the cost of the two-day registration (which, as you might guess, is not cheap). So I’m in. Ah, but it doesn’t stop there (or perhaps, “But wait, there’s more!”).

Not only do I get the registration fee waived, they also toss in a ticket to the ASJA Awards Presentation event being held that Thursday evening. While Friday and Saturday are open to non-members, Thursday is reserved for special sessions open only to ASJA members (of which I am not one…yet). I still can’t attend the day events but I’ll get a chance to sit in as ASJA acknowledges the work of their members in various categories. And as luck would have it, an acquaintance of mine turns out to be one of the winners. Is that karma or what?

But that isn’t all. I also get a 30-minute mentoring session with “an established, professional writer specializing in your topic of choice.” Now all I need is a topic of choice.

All in all this is exciting stuff. And that’s even before figuring in all of the great presentations and workshops during the two days. Keynote speaker A.J. Jacobs will tell us about his most recent experiences trying to become “the healthiest person in the world.” In fact I recently finished one of his earlier books The Know-It-All, which chronicles his mildly insane project of reading the entire 32-volume hard copy Encyclopedia Britannica. I’ve heard him speak before so know that it will be an entertaining luncheon.

Of course, I’ll likely mention a time or two about my forthcoming book on Nikola Tesla. I had some great news on that front earlier in the week as well. But wait there’s more! (Couldn’t resist). Two other exciting events happened this past week as well. I’ll save those for another post. For now I’m off to get myself psyched for New York City. And what better way to do that than listening to Alicia Keys.

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Martin Luther King Assassination Anniversary

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Martin Luther KingToday is the anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, the famed civil rights leader. He was shot April 4th while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King’s contributions and impact on American society are well known, and yet immeasurable. The following short YouTube clip explains the assassination well:

In 2011 a memorial was erected to Martin Luther King along the tidal basin in Washington DC. You can see some of my photos in this piece from last year.

More information on Martin Luther King can be found here.

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Tesla: Wizard of Electricity – release date

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Tesla: Wizard of ElectricityWe have a book release date! Tesla: Wizard of Electricity is officially scheduled to be published on June 30, 2013. That is when it will be available to the general public. A mere nine months after I submitted the manuscript. Of course, it isn’t really that easy. The process of publishing a book, while not quite like having a baby, apparently takes just as long.

I actually finished writing the book and submitted it to the publisher on September 10, 2012. A few weeks later I receive word from my editor that the manuscript was just what they were looking for. Then by the time I finish my “happy dance” I have a set of edits to review. To my amazement and relief most are minor and the few more substantive ones are easily addressed. That got us to November. By January the electronic manuscript files were sent to the overseas printer.

Then I wait.

Tap, tap, tap.

Okay, is it done yet? No? More tapping.

Spring forward to April 2nd – details from my editor at Sterling Publishing. Happy dance again. [Okay, for those who know me, I admit that I didn’t actually do a “happy dance” because, well, let’s just say it would not look so happy. Feel free to rid that rhetorical flourish from your mind’s eye.]

In any case, the printing of the book is going to take a while. It’s being printed overseas so that the cost savings can be put into all the color for the interior pages and the foil treatment being used for the cover. In short, this is going to be a nice looking book. If all goes well with the printing then the books should hit the warehouse by June 20th and be available in Barnes and Noble stores by June 30th.

Which is just in time because I plan to attend the Tesla Days events in Philadelphia on July 6-10 celebrating the 157th anniversary of Tesla’s birth. I’ll have a supply of books on-hand for purchase by anyone who will be in the area to witness displays of Tesla-inspired inventions, attempts to produce free energy, a “battle of the Tesla coils,” a Tesla art show, and music, movies, and literary wonders galore. I hope you’ll drop by.

More on Tesla: Wizard of Electricity.

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