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Staring Down Monitor Lizards at Coron, Philippines

The monitor lizard was six feet long from nose to tail, maybe even longer. We were in the Philippines, and we were all staring at it.

Monitor lizard, Coron, PhilippinesA close relative of the somewhat larger and more famous Komodo Dragon, all monitor lizards belong to the genus Varanus, a word derived from the Arabic meaning “dragon” or my favorite, “lizard beast.” And what a beast he was (but in a good way).

On our recent tour through several Philippine islands we made a stop at Coron, which consists of a couple of big islands and around 50 other islets. The day was spent snorkeling both in Kayangan Lake, a mixed fresh and salt water body of water, and a tropical reef filled with fishes and corals. For lunch we took the outrigger to another part of the island for a nice beach picnic.

Perhaps that is what attracted the monitor.

After eating we noticed some rasping sounds behind us and suddenly there was this lizard, its tongue flicking out repeatedly in search for food. Virtually all monitor lizards are primarily carnivorous, although there are three arboreal (tree climbing) species in the Philippines that are fruit eaters. This one was not arboreal but strutting along the rocky gravel and sand looking for food. It may have smelled the crabs and fish and other delicacies we had just barbecued up, or maybe it was looking for other reptiles or amphibians…or even birds and small mammals. I’m suddenly reminded that humans are mammals and wondering what monitor lizards consider “small.”

This particular one graced our presence for about 20 minutes or so. At one point a stray cat – feral cats are everywhere in the Philippines – engaged in its own stare down with the monitor from a relatively safe rocky perch. We could tell the monitor was thinking about it, but then suddenly, a semi-feral dog raced into the scene and leaped onto the back of the monitor, which quickly shed its unwanted rider and sped into the crevices of the nearby rocks. The cat also jumped a mile in the air from the sudden intrusion and took off into the forest. Whether the dog was rescuing the cat or simply felt ignored by all the people gazing at the monitor is unclear, but after about 10 minutes searching fruitlessly for the lizard among the rocks, it slowly made its way back to the beach.

And so ended our monitor moment. This was the first monitor lizard seen on the trip, but not the last. A day later another was wondering near our stop off for the underground river on the Philippine island of Palawan. Then we spotted another in the mangrove forest of Brunei (where we also saw a proboscis monkey, but more on the monkeys later). Monitor lizards are oviparous, meaning they lay eggs, as few as seven and as many as three dozen at a time. We didn’t see any nests, but there is plenty more to talk about so look for future posts on monitors and other Philippine flora and fauna.

 

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

 

The Year in a Writer’s Life – 2018

David J Kent, WriterThe year 2018 in a writer’s life was good. Well, kind of up and down, really. Okay, let’s just call it a year of transition. And that is actually a good thing.

This year was the first in which I published exactly zero new books since I started my writing career. My Tesla book came out in 2013; two e-books on Tesla and Tesla/Lincoln were released in 2014 and 2015, respectively; 2016 saw Edison; and 2017 was the year of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. No new books doesn’t mean inactivity. New printings for Tesla and Lincoln were put into Barnes and Noble stores in 2018, and the rights for foreign editions padded my semiannual royalty checks.

I had planned for 2018 to be the year I started writing more for magazines and other freelance outlets, but my busy travel schedule and other distractions kept me from making much effort in that regard. I also didn’t follow through on my goal to enter writing competitions. For the same reasons, fewer blog posts here on Science Traveler and Hot White Snow passed through my typing fingers, and The Dake Page has been grossly neglected. I’ll spend more time on them in 2019.

But the really good news is that my work was wonderfully recognized on several fronts. In addition to the 8th printing of Tesla and 2nd printing of Lincoln, my Lincoln book received quite a few accolades. In 2018 it received its second nomination for book awards, was overwhelmingly selected as the very first book for the new Railsplitter podcast book club (3 podcasts and on-air interview), was chosen as a resource for the Illinois LEAD: Spirit of Lincoln Youth Academy Program, and received a published review in Civil War Times magazine. The book even got mentioned in a Chicago Tribune article on Lincoln scholarship.

The Railsplitter podcast wasn’t my only interview. I had the privilege of being interviewed on Facebook Live by Coffee Party founder and influential filmmaker Annabel Park. The interview, co-hosted with fellow scientist Bob Scheuplein, garnered over 11,000 views. Annabel recently suggested another interview on the topic of leadership, which will likely happen early in the new year. Also coming up in January will be an on-air interview about Nikola Tesla with the Voice of America. I also did a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” program this past January that was highly successful, plus was featured on C-SPAN for a presentation I gave at the Lincoln Group of DC.

While no new books came out in 2018, I do have several books in the works. I made progress on my new Lincoln book and hope to get it to a publisher this year. I also began the process for a book that I will edit, with chapters by various Lincoln scholars. I’m about halfway through a draft of a travel memoir. If that wasn’t enough to keep me busy, in December I wrote the first draft of a short story I’ll enter into a writing competition in January, as well as started writing a historical science fiction novel, my first real long-form fiction attempt.

So 2018 was a very good year even though I didn’t have any new books come out. The ones I’m working on now will be different from my earlier books, which were heavy on graphics and targeted a general reading public. My next Lincoln book(s) is more deeply scholarly on a specific subject, and the other books take inspiration from Bill Bryson and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

My goals for 2019 include following through on more magazine and competition writing. I’m off to a good start as I’ve already submitted a short piece that should be published in Civil War Times soon and the first contest submission date I’m shooting for is mid-January. I’ll focus on getting the Lincoln book out the door, with the others being squeezed into “free” time for future release. Meanwhile, I’ll continue traveling (I already have trips booked to Costa Rica and Cuba) and make more of an effort to write travel-related magazine articles. I’ll also continue to be highly active in the Lincoln Group of DC. More on those topics in later posts.

Several unexpected deaths of colleagues, relatives, and friends this year reinforced the idea that our lives are fleeting and we must make every effort to enjoy the time we have on this earth. So from me to you, set your goals high, live life, and love all.

Happy New Year! May 2019 exceed your greatest imagination!

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

 

An Abraham Lincoln Christmas

A few days before Christmas 1864, Abraham Lincoln received a Christmas present from General William T. Sherman – capture of the city of Savannah, Georgia. Lincoln was pleased, but continued to work through Christmas day on the business of running the government during war time. As I had written previously:

President Abraham Lincoln sent no Christmas cards and set up no Christmas tree. Of course, Christmas itself didn’t become a national holiday until President Ulysses S. Grant signed a congressional bill into law in 1870.

As a young state legislator in 1834, Lincoln voted against making Christmas a state holiday. Throughout his life, Christmas was a normal day at the office. That wasn’t unusual. Up until the mid 1800s, Christmas was celebrated with church services, not parties and presents, which were seen as unchristian.

Perhaps ironically given today’s current affairs, on Christmas day 1863 Lincoln wrote to Bayard Taylor, who had just returned from his post as secretary of legation in St. Petersburg, Russia. Lincoln suggested:

I think a good lecture or two on “Serfs, Serfdom, and Emancipation in Russia” would be both interesting and valuable. Could not you get up such a thing? Yours truly A. LINCOLN.

A few days earlier, Lincoln offered a more Lincolnesque example of goodwill and charity when he wrote a letter only recently revealed. In it he provides for Mr. and Mrs. Craig, cousins to Mrs. Lincoln, to return to their plantation in Arkansas after the area had been reclaimed by Union forces, solely to live out their final days in the home that had been in their family for years, and without the slaves they previously owned. Mr. Craig died shortly after their return; Mrs. Craig two years later. This gesture of compassion by Lincoln during a time of war “affords a glimpse of what Reconstruction would have been like had Lincoln lived.”

Even though Christmas was a work day for Lincoln, that hasn’t stopped history from adding him to the Christmas theme. Thomas Nast became famous during the Civil War as a prolific illustrator and cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly magazine. It was Nast who first introduced Santa Claus (aka, Father Christmas) as a recruiting tool for the Union army. Other illustrators showed Lincoln enjoying toys and stockings with his children, and pulling them on a sled. Modern commercialization has him featured on the traditional “ugly Christmas sweater,” dressed up in Santa hats, and as Christmas ornaments. In 1999, the White House featured Abraham Lincoln on their official holiday ornament.

If Lincoln were alive today, he most assuredly would have offered his Hanukkah greetings and given a Christmas message of hope and faith.

In his absence I wish to do the same. Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and all my best wishes for a Happy and Productive New Year!

Safe travels, wherever life takes you.

Fire of Genius

 

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Science Traveling Through Time and Space

Hong Kong Philippines Malaysia BruneiTraveling can take you back in time (as in, history)…or it can take you away in space (as in, geography; so far no actual space travel for me). I’m about to do both.

After close to two months without any substantive travel, I’m eager to get on the road again. And the air. And the sea. Upcoming trips will cover all of those.

First there is the annual Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where I get to travel back in time. After a three day battle the previous July, Abraham Lincoln took a train to Gettysburg to deliver “a few appropriate remarks.” He was a bit of an afterthought for the event; the keynote speaker, noted orator Edward Everett, regaled the crowd with a two hour speech before Lincoln stood up to present his two minute address. Besides the usual cast of Lincoln scholars, the Forum will feature George Saunders, author of the unique and critically acclaimed bestseller, Lincoln in the Bardo. David Blight will also speak on his new book about African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Returning from Gettysburg only long enough to gas up the car, I’ll hit the road to visit the family in New England. I’ll cover some geographic distance, but this is only a prelude.

A few days after that I’ll be on a plane to Asia, where I’ll set to sea for two weeks. Starting in Honk Kong, the Star Legend (sister yacht to the Star Breeze we took around the Baltic Sea this summer) will zigzag among the islands of the Philippines, with stops in Hundred Islands, Manila, Boracay, Coron, and Palawan. Then on to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, Malaysia on the island of Borneo, with a hop to the “Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace” (or simply, Brunei). The yacht finishes in Singapore, where we’ll stay a few days and probably take a side trip up to Kuala Lumpur.

So I’ll get to experience American history, international history, new and interesting cultures, and a whole lot of new geography. Oh, and hopefully monkeys since last year at this time I found out there are no monkeys in Australia.

More previews and recaps to come!

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

My Interview and Abraham Lincoln on the Railsplitter Podcast

Railsplitter podcast logoThe Railsplitter podcast is up with the third of three episodes reviewing my book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. In this final installment, they chat for about 20 minutes about the last two chapters before welcoming me to talk about the book.

Listen to the first episode covering Chapters 1-4.

And second episode for Chapters 5-8.

And the final episode for Chapters 9 & 10, plus an interview with me.

I want to thank Jeremy, Mary, and Nick choosing my book as the very first book of their Railsplitter Book Club. Jeremy tells me that they put out a poll asking listeners which book out of thousands of Lincoln books they should choose to be their very first – and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America was their overwhelming choice!

I had a great time being interviewed for the show and I hope everyone will enjoy it.

For those who missed my earlier presentation on Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America at the Lincoln Group of DC, you can watch the C-SPAN broadcast online.

David J Kent on C-SPAN

For those wondering how my Chasing Abraham Lincoln Part 1 went, well, it hasn’t yet. I was all set to go but then a family emergency redirected my long road trip. Instead of down to Tennessee and up through Kentucky, Indiana, and more, I drove up to New England. The Chasing Abraham Lincoln trip will likely (hopefully) happen in May, so stay turned.

I’ve also been having some issues with my home computers (both of them), which is why I haven’t been able to post about my recent trip down to Newport News for the Battle of Hampton Roads weekend. Working on solutions and I should be able to report on that next week.

In the meantime, enjoy the Railsplitter podcasts and the C-SPAN broadcast.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

[Daily Post]

Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln (and Charles Darwin)

February 12th is always a good day because it blends my two careers – Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day in 1809. Both changed the world in remarkable ways. So Happy Birthday to Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.

Lincoln Memorial Wreath Laying

It will be a busy week.  For the third year in a row I’ll be laying the wreath at the foot of the statue in the Lincoln Memorial for the Lincoln Group of DC, joined by Wendy Swanson. If you’re in Washington DC Monday at noon, stop by the Lincoln Memorial. Here is video from last year’s wreath laying.

On Tuesday night I’ll be attending a joint meeting of the Lincoln Group of DC and the Civil War Round Table of DC. Our speaker, which I’m happy to say I arranged, is Sidney Blumenthal, famous politico and author of two great books on Abraham Lincoln (with two more volumes in the works).

Saturday will take me to Ford’s Theatre for the monthly Lincoln Group of DC Book Discussion Group. We’ll finish up our current book (James McPherson’s Lincoln and the Second American Revolution) and choose the next book to read. This is a great time to join us so check out the web page link. From that group I’ll join others in an intensive meeting in which we’ll inventory Lincoln-related items we’ll auction off in April.

George Buss Abraham LincolnIt doesn’t stop there. Next week (February 22nd, 7 pm) I’ll be at the National Archives for the Lincoln-Douglas-Douglass Debates. In this very special presentation we’ll have Lincoln interpreter George Buss recreating his famous debates with Stephen A. Douglas (portrayed by Tim Connors). After a short break, Lincoln will return to have a discussion with Frederick Douglass (portrayed by Phil Darius Wallace) using a script written by world famous Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer. Harold will moderate the debates. This is a once in a lifetime event that cannot be missed. [And it’s free] Check out more info at the National Archives.

And that’s just the next two weeks following on recent events that included Part 1 of 3 as the featured book discussion on the Railsplitter podcast, a successful Ask Me Anything online Q&A, and C-SPAN coverage of my presentation on Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

It doesn’t stop there. I’m planning several Lincoln events for March, including joining the Board of the Abraham Lincoln Institute, attending the annual ALI Symposium, taking a trip to Newport News to view the ironclad Monitor, starting the new book in our monthly book discussion group, touring the Gettysburg Battlefield, and then the beginning of the first segment of my “Chasing Abraham Lincoln” road trip. Stay tuned.

Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln! And Happy Birthday, Charles Darwin!

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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below.

No Monkeys in Australia

There are no monkeys in Australia. None. I came to this realization as I was hiking through the Great Otway National Park in Victoria, along the Great Ocean Road. There were dozens of varieties of huge eucalyptus trees and prehistoric-looking cycads, perfect for frolicking monkeys. But not a monkey to be seen.

Koala (Not a monkey)

Koala (Not a monkey)

The continent has more than its fair share of marsupials, those pouch-bearing mammals that are iconic of Australia. There were bandicoots, bilblies, wombats, dozens of varieties of possum (including gliders), enough wallabies to start a circus (not to be confused with the flying Wallendas), and even Tasmania devils and marsupial moles. And let’s not forget the kangaroos in types ranging from rat to red, East and West grey, and antilopine (antelope-like). There are even a handful of tree kangaroos and the somewhat related monotremes that lay eggs (platypus and echidna).

Add to that the emus, cassowary, parrots, lorikeets, kookaburra, and a hefty variety of other odd-looking (and sounding) birds. Then there are the introduced species like rabbits (tons and tons of rabbits), sheep, cattle, deer, and flies. Especially flies.

But no monkeys.

About 260 species of monkeys inhabit the world. New world monkeys live in Central and South America; their prehensile tails and lack of cheek pouches being their most distinguishing features. Old world monkeys live in Asia and Africa. These lack the prehensile tails but have cheek pouches to store food. If you must get intimate with any particular monkey, feel free to check for rump pads and nostril presentation. Personally I’m sticking with the whether they have a tail or not.

Most monkeys are tropical, so the temperate rain forests of southern Australia would seem a good option. There are even cold-climate monkeys in northern Japan and the Himalayas, so there really is no excuse for their absence in Australia. Back in 1862, while the United States was distracted by the American Civil War, then Victoria Governor and patron of the sciences Sir Henry Barkly called for the introduction of monkeys into the colony’s forests “for the amusement of wayfarers, whom their gambols would delight.” Notwithstanding the obvious attraction of gamboling monkeys, Barkly was replaced as Governor before the idea caught on no monkeys were introduced.

By why aren’t they there naturally?

PangeaThe answer is a combination of timing and plate tectonics. At one time most of the continents were clumped together in what was called Pangea. But around 175 million years or so ago Pangea started to move apart. Given Australia’s position and movement away from the other land masses, and given that primates like monkeys are a relatively new evolutionary grouping (25 to 40 million years ago), there was no feasible way for monkeys (or monkey ancestors) to travel to the secluded island of Australia.

Ah, but you say there were land bridges during the ice ages. So true. And this is how Australian Aborigines probably reached the continent about 60,000 years ago. But other primates didn’t make it that far. Orangutans, for example, can be found in Indonesia and Malaysia, but never quite made it as far as Papua New Guinea, and definitely not to Australia.

Wallace Lines

Scientists have identified a series of “Wallace Lines” (named for Alfred Russel Wallace, who wrote a paper suggesting much the same thing about evolution as Darwin was about to publish). Because of the positioning of the tectonic plates (Australia and Asia are on different plates), there were natural breaks that made transport difficult. That’s why there are no monkeys in Australia, and also why there are no kangaroos or other marsupials in Asia (the one exception to both rules could be the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, which sits in between the two continents).

My hike through the Great Otway National Park continued sans monkeys, but the majesty of the mountain ash (a kind of eucalyptus) made up for it. I didn’t see any monkeys, but I did get to admire the koalas and kangaroos. And that is what Australia is all about.

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Last Chance for Free Shipping on Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America

Get it in time for the holidays! And get shipping for FREE!

You can have a signed copy of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America without having to pay a shipping fee.

Check out a Preview and the Table of Contents here.

Through December 10th shipping fees will be waived. Just pay the price of the book and I’ll ship it anywhere in the continental United States for free.

Go to my “Buy the Books” page to order now!

Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World

 

 

The same terms apply to my Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World book!

[Sorry, Tesla books temporarily out of stock. Check back in January.]

 

 

 

David J. Kent is 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.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page. Share with your friends using the buttons below

Nikola Tesla Takes on Einstein

Nikola Tesla portraitRotating magnetic fields, alternating current motors and transformers, the Tesla coil, wireless transmission of radio communication, wireless lighting…Nikola Tesla had no shortage of inventions that he could call his own. But these were not the only inventions in which he dabbled. Besides his wireless radio communication and alternating current systems, and like other great inventors from da Vinci to Edison, Tesla was intrigued by a great many other issues. One such issue to which he gave a great deal of thought was the relationship between matter and energy. Late in life he even claimed to have developed a new dynamic theory of gravity, though the details of his theory were never presented. One thing was clear, however, Tesla did not think Albert Einstein had gotten it right when he introduced his theories of relativity: “Tesla continuously attacked the validity of Einstein’s work,” his first biographer John O’Neill would write, “he ridiculed the belief that energy could be obtained from matter.”

Einstein, of course, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 “for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.” While he is probably best known for his development of “the world’s most famous equation, E = mc2,” Einstein’s greatest contributions were in reconciling the laws of classical mechanics with the laws of electromagnetic fields. He believed that Newtonian mechanics did not adequately accomplish this reconciliation, which led to his special theory of relativity in 1905. Extending this concept to gravitational fields, Einstein published his general theory of relativity in 1916. The following year he applied the general theory to model the structure of the universe as a whole.

To vastly oversimplify, general relativity provides for a unified description of gravity as a geometric property of space and time. One key feature is that space-time is both curved and a function of the energy and momentum of matter and radiation. This is why light is bent around planets and other celestial bodies as it is influenced by their gravitational fields. It is also why time passes more slowly the closer the clock is to the source of gravitation (or conversely, why astronauts on a mission to points outside our solar system would return much younger than if they had remained on Earth).

Undeterred by the worldwide preeminence of such a man as Einstein, Tesla, at the ripe old age of eighty-two, wrote that he was fortunate enough to work out “two far reaching discoveries.” One was a dynamic theory of gravity, which he said “explains the causes of this force and the motions of heavenly bodies under its influence so satisfactorily that it will put an end to idle speculation and false conceptions, as that of curved space.” The “idle speculation” of curved space was, of course, one of the key features of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Tesla argued that Einstein’s theories were nothing more than “magnificent mathematical garb which fascinates, dazzles and makes people blind to the underlying errors.”

Tesla’s other far-reaching discovery was a physical truth that he felt could best be expressed by the statement:

“There is no energy in matter other than that received from the environment.”

He argued that no theory could

“explain the workings of the universe without recognizing the existence of the ether and the indispensable function it plays in the phenomena.”

The presence of the ether—the unseen medium between all the bodies of the universe—had already been contested by many scientists, including Einstein. Instead of the ether, Einstein inserted his own space-time construct that allowed space to curve around gravitational bodies. Tesla disagreed with Einstein, saying:

I hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes curved is equivalent to stating that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.

The question was not inconsequential—if the ether existed then the speed of light would not be constant, it would vary depending on the forces of the celestial bodies. Experiments carried out by Albert Michelson and William Morley in 1887 had already shown that the ether actually did not exist, notwithstanding Tesla’s insistence many decades after this to the contrary.

Still undeterred, Tesla believed that he had discovered what came to be known as “Tesla waves,” which would move faster than the speed of light. He argued that the propagation of currents from his magnifying transmitter—“a peculiar transformer specially adapted to excite the Earth”—would begin with “a theoretically infinite speed” and then later “proceeds [sic] with the speed of light.” But that would not be the end as “from there on it again increases in speed, slowly at first, and then more rapidly,” eventually passing through the Earth to a point diametrically opposed to it “with approximately infinite velocity.” Needless to say this was a direct contradiction to Einstein’s demonstration that the speed of light is a constant and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, at least in a vacuum.

Whether Tesla could have provided some additional insight to Einstein’s thinking on relativity if he had presented his views many years earlier, we will never know. In the end it was Einstein whose theories were written down, underwent scrutiny, and are generally accepted today.

[The above is an adaptation from my book Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity.]

Fire of Genius

Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.

Limited signed copies are available via this website. The book also listed on Goodreads, the database where I keep track of my reading. Click on the “Want to Read” button to put it on your reading list. Please leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon if you like the book.

You also follow my author page on Facebook.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

If It’s Tuesday…The Saga Continues

BrusselsI’ve been writing periodic posts cataloguing my previous three-year secondment to Brussels. Check out the series here. It’s been a while since I’ve posted but the saga of jumping through hoops to work in Europe continues.

At this point, I had been running around town fulfilling the fantasies of bureaucrats.  Over a few days I had:

1) Gotten a medical exam from the only doctor in Washington DC approved by the Belgian government for “official” exams (there are only 7 in the entire US). The odd thing was the doctor seemed like he was old enough to be in medical school around the turn of the century – the LAST century (1900).  I literally was reviewing CPR procedures in my head while he was examining me in case he were to suddenly keel over. It was a close call but both of us escaped from the room upright.

2) Gotten a chest X-ray at a separate medical office to prove I didn’t have anything I was going to spread to the Belgians. A blood sample went to a third lab for analysis. Apparently they don’t want my deadly germs spreading to “the old countries.” Perhaps they remember Columbus.

3) Returned two days later to the doctor to pick up my signed and stamped medical certificate, which I then had to run up to the Belgian Embassy (one of the benefits of working in DC is that just about everything needed is right here). Given that the Embassy was only 3/4 mile from the nearest Metro stop (and the fact that all the taxis were on strike that day), I decided to walk there and back. Naturally it started to rain just as I left and continued until just after I returned….and I hadn’t brought along an umbrella because there wasn’t any rain in the forecast.  Oh well. I was a bit damp but the trek was successful.

4) Running out again to the now defunct Ritz Camera to get two ID photos taken for my passport visa. I’m not particularly photogenic and the photographers seem to capture that deficiency well.

5) Sending all of this along with my CV, copies of my college diplomas, copies of every single page (even the blank ones) of my passport, and a few other pieces of paper to the Brussels office so I can get a work permit. [Of course, I still couldn’t get that until the FBI ran a background check on the fingerprints I had taken a couple of weeks before.]

Once the work permit was issued I had to take that up to the Belgian Embassy again to get my visa. Once I (finally) got to Brussels I had more paperwork to do in order to get a residency card. That excruciating process that had to be repeated every year for my three years there. Anyone who thinks America’s bureaucracy is burdensome needs to live in Europe to appreciate just how easy we have it in the states.

I began to see why some immigrants to my own country choose to take their chances bypassing the official procedures….you could grow old waiting for all the paperwork to be filed. And I’m only going over for a few years. And I was working for the same firm, just changing offices.

But it was worth it.

More to come.

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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