We 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.
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Twelve-year-old Kyle Driebeek first learned about Nikola Tesla when he was only 8 years old. Four years later he is one of the star attractions at the Nikola Tesla Memorial Conference held in New York City January 5-7, 2013. [Day 1 and Day 2] The conference was held on the 70th anniversary of Tesla’s death in the very place that he lived the last 10 years of his life – the New Yorker Hotel. Many luminaries in the field were in attendance including Tesla Science Foundation President Nikola Lonchar, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe President Jane Alcorn, The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman, and William H. Terbo, the grand-nephew of Nikola Tesla. But Kyle was the real star.
Amazingly poised and well-spoken for someone so young, Kyle walked up to the microphone and quickly awed the roomful of Nikola Tesla experts. He related how he first came to hear about Tesla on a History Channel program called Modern Marvels. That same year his 3rd Grade class gave him an assignment to study a famous person. Kyle chose Tesla. For his research Kyle and his family came to the New Yorker, stayed in the very room that was Tesla’s, and toured the property with engineer Joe Kinney. He also went out to Long Island and peered at Wardenclyffe through the fence. It would be the first of many visits to the New Yorker and to Wardenclyffe.
His research continued for a 5th Grade class project. In 2011 Kyle attended the Long Island Tesla Conference and got to stand on the octagonal base of the Wardenclyffe tower. He learned to play the Theremin, the electronic instrument played without physical contact. He smiled as the contributions rolled in during Matthew Inman’s crowd-funding efforts in 2012, an effort that raised nearly $1.4 million and has allowed Jane Alcorn’s Tesla Science Center to purchase the Wardenclyffe property to be made into a museum and educational center. And now here he was an invited speaker at the Tesla Memorial Conference. [You can watch Kyle’s presentation beginning at about minute 37:00 in this video.]
Kyle Driebeek was inspired by Nikola Tesla. The attendees at the conference were inspired by Kyle Driebeek. Like Kyle, we all feel that the world needs to know more about Nikola Tesla’s contributions to science. Kyle vows to help spread the word. And after his inspiring presentation, so will we all.
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In my last post I introduced the first day of the Tesla Memorial Conference held January 5-7, 2013 in the New Yorker Hotel. While Day 1 focused primarily on various ongoing projects (e.g., acquisition of Wardenclyffe) and artistic endeavors (e.g., my book and other inspirations), Day 2 focused on Tesla’s technical contributions.
Starting us off was Manoj Shah, the 2012 recipient of the IEEE Nikola Tesla Award, which is given annually to “an individual or team that has made an outstanding contribution to the generation or utilization of electric power.” Dr. Shah is an electrical engineer at GE Global Research. In his presentation he highlighted some of the electrical machines produced by GE and how Tesla’s work influenced their designs.
Other speakers included Thomas Valone of Integrity Research Institute discussing electrotherapeutic devices (a little zap a day will do ya), Nicholas Simos of Brookhaven Labs discussing wireless energy transmission, and my personal favorite, Marko Popovic of Worcester Polytechnic Institute discussing Tesla and Robotics. Dr. Popovic reminded us that it was none other than Nikola Tesla who developed what can be considered the first robot, a remote controlled boat he called a telautomaton that he first publicly demonstrated in Madison Square Garden in 1898.
Popovic also mentioned another inventor, John Hays Hammond, Jr., who collaborated with Tesla for a while and eventually made a larger remote controlled robotic boat. I mention Hammond briefly here because of a connection I have with him, which I’ll talk about in a later post. For now, here is the slide in which Popovic showed Hammond and his boat.
Tesla expert and author Marc Seifer then discussed the significance of the later years of the Wardenclyffe, when Tesla had run out of funding and was desperately trying to interest new investors. Unfortunately he was unsuccessful and the Wardenclyffe tower was torn down for scrap to pay off some of Tesla’s debts.
The morning ended with math. Musical math. David Pokrajac explained the technical basis behind a unique musical instrument called the Theremin, which is the world’s first electronic device and the only wireless instrument. The performer, in this case Mano Divina, “captures electricity in mid-air and bends it with his hands to sing Opera,” all without touching the instrument at all.
The day continued with demonstrations of Tesla coils, wireless energy transmissions, gyroscopes, a few sparks and much more, all of which can be seen on the video recordings kindly provided by Kevin Wood Media. After closing remarks many attended a memorial service for Nikola Tesla and celebrated the Serbian Orthodox Christmas at St. Sava, a nearby Serbian Orthodox Cathedral. Meanwhile, I hopped a train back to DC (work beckons). Before I left I took this photo of the plaque honoring Nikola Tesla on the side of the New Yorker Hotel, where he lived the last ten years of his life.
Many thanks to the Tesla Science Foundation, especially to Nikola Lonchar and Marina Schwabic, for organizing a wonderful conference. I was proud to have contributed my small part and enjoyed the conference and attendees immensely.
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I had the distinct pleasure of spending this past weekend in the company of many of the most influential experts and enthusiasts of the great Serbian-American inventor, Nikola Tesla. Held in the New Yorker Hotel on the 70th anniversary of Tesla’s death, the conference consisted of two full days of presentations, preceded by a gala Spirit Awards Benefit Reception. By all measures the conference was a great success.
Tesla Science Foundation, under the leadership of President Nikola Lonchar, Executive Director Marina Schwabic, and Chairman David Vujic, sponsored the event, along with support by the New Yorker Hotel, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Westinghouse, and the General Consulate of Serbia. Those who know about Nikola Tesla will have heard that he lived the last ten years of his life in Room 3327 of the New Yorker. There is a plaque on his door.
For this event I was lucky enough to have the room immediately next to the Tesla room. From 3326 I was able to see and hear a stream of people stopping by to take photos by Tesla’s door. I also learned that Tesla had a two room suite – he used Room 3328 as a study.
The first day of the Conference was filled with a wide variety of presentations based on the theme “Why Tesla Matters.” New Yorker Hotel engineer Joe Kinney opened with a history of Tesla and the hotel. He was followed by one of the most fascinating and inspiring talks of the day, by 12-year old Kyle Driebeek (I’ll have more on Kyle in a future piece). Other highlights of the first morning were presentations by Tesla expert and author Marc Seifer and his screenwriting partner Tim Eaton, updates on a movie in development by award-winning filmmaker Joe Sikorski, Tesla as artistic inspiration by Miriam Seidel, Terry O’Reilly and Melissa Dunphy, and Tesla in film by Milan Knezevic.
The biggest highlights of the day were the presentations by Jane Alcorn, President of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, and Matt Inman, creator of The Oatmeal. Jane provided an update on the progress in purchasing Tesla’s last laboratory, the Wardenclyffe property in Shoreham, Long Island. The contract is nearing completion and the Science Center is hard at work drawing up plans for the renovation and restoration of the property. Photos of the facility show that age and vandalism have taken a toll so this will be a long-term project, likely achieved in a series of steps. Following her presentation Jane introduced The Oatmeal, aka Matt Inman. Matt had used the reach of his wonderful comic site and the power of crowdfunding to help raise nearly $1.4 million within 45 days, all of which is being used to fund the purchase of Wardenclyffe. In three days of applause for the speakers, Matt Inman is the only person to receive a full standing ovation from the crowd. His efforts were clearly very much appreciated.
After Inman was a very special surprise guest that wasn’t on the agenda. While Nikola Tesla never married, and in fact lived a celibate life, his sister had a son, Tesla’s nephew. That son married and had a son, Tesla’s grand-nephew. And Mr. William H. Terbo, Nikola Tesla’s grand-nephew, graced the conference with his ebullient presence.
Terbo is Executive Secretary of the Tesla Memorial Society and enjoys every chance to help continue his grand-uncles name and heritage. He talked of the many dedications of statues and plaques, including the one on the outside of the New Yorker Hotel. He even related the story of meeting Tesla in 1940, when Mr. Terbo was 10 years old. I had the pleasure of a delightful conversation with Mr. Terbo, who promised to read my book as soon as it was available.
Rounding out the first day were short presentations by other writers and visual art creators, updates on the UNESCO activities honoring Tesla, the IEEE’s Tesla Award, a heartfelt homage to the contributions of Serbs in America, and the activities of the Tesla Memorial Society of New York.
Phew. As I look back, this was a packed program – and it was only the first day of presentations! I’ll have more on the second day in a follow up article, including live Tesla coils on stage.
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Today marked a milestone in the production of my forthcoming book, NikolaTesla: The Wizard of Electricity. I received a check. Receiving money in the mail is always a good thing (at least to most people) and this was no exception. After a bit of a delay due to Hurricane Sandy and a slew of holidays the publisher finally released the second half of the “advance on royalties.” My agent, Marilyn Allen of Allen O’Shea Literary Agency passed along the proceeds. As they say on the extremely dignified professional author circuit – Woo hoo!!
January will also mark another milestone. I’ll be attending the Tesla Science Foundation’s annual Tesla Commemorative Conference in the New Yorker Hotel from January 5th to 7th. This past November I talked to a lot of toxicologists and chemists at the annual SETAC meeting, but this will be my first opportunity to talk to genuine Tesla experts about the book. I’m both excited and anxious.
After that I’ll start getting the book jacket blurbs and Sterling will provide the pre-order information. Meanwhile I’m working on some preliminary options for book signing locations. Since Sterling is a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble there may be a few automatic spots. I’ll also want to do some signings in my hometown of Ipswich and environs.
Anything I’m missing? Please let me know.
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As discussed previously, the Tesla Science Foundation is sponsoring a Nikola Tesla Memorial Conference in New York City from January 5 to 7, 2012. The site is the New Yorker Hotel where Tesla lived his final years and died on January 7, 1943.
A Tesla Spirit Award Benefit Reception will take place on the evening of January 5th, then the next two days are filled with speakers bringing everyone up to date on exciting Tesla-related projects. Included are the Tesla Museum in Belgrade, Telsa on film, and Tesla as inspiration for music, books, and art. Renowned Tesla expert Marc Seifer will be there, as will Jane Alcorn from the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, who will bring us up to date on the magnificent effort to raise money and purchase Tesla’s old Wardenclyffe property on Long Island. I’ll be there too talking about my forthcoming book Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity.
The final day gets deep into the technical discoveries of Tesla, including some new ideas for further development of principles he originated a century ago. Definitely a man ahead of his time.
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Some followers will recall that my annual travel roundup has been called “The Year in Science Traveling” since its inception many years ago. I’ve decided to change it to “The Year in a Traveler’s Life” from this point forward to reflect my broader traveling experiences. Given my writing history, which I’ll capture shortly in my “writer’s life” annual post, much of my travel includes Lincoln-themed locations. That said, I still do a lot of science traveling and this year was no exception. In fact, it was almost a normal travel year after two-plus years of COVID travel restrictions. In 2022 I made my first overseas trips since I went to Cuba in May of 2019. It was nice to see more of the world again.
The travel year didn’t start well. We had planned a small ship cruise beginning and ending in Istanbul, Turkey. It would have taken us into the Black Sea with stops in Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine (Odesa), Russia (Sochi), Georgia, and a few additional spots in Turkey (including Cappadocia). Although it was scheduled for September, by March it was clear that was not going to happen. Not surprisingly, the cruise was cancelled soon after Russia invaded Ukraine and our attention switched to focusing on supporting a Ukrainian friend with whom we had traveled previously. With the Black Sea off the table, we looked for alternatives and found a quick booking for a tour of Iceland, a place that has been on my bucket list for many years. Iceland was a wonderful experience as we circled the island, stopping at a seemingly infinite number of spectacular waterfalls. We also saw volcanoes, luckily all dormant at the moment. Not long after getting home there was a volcano spewing ash and lava not far from the airport we had traveled from. While there I saw the Eyjafjallajökull volcano that had disrupted air travel for weeks in 2010 while I was living in Brussels. Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice, and this trip certainly proved that catchphrase true. A truly amazing experience, including hiking behind a large waterfall (and getting drenched) and seeing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge that passes through the island.
Meanwhile, around the time of our Iceland trip we committed to a photo safari in Tanzania, which we took in late November into early December. This was our first time in Africa, our sixth continent (still working on getting to Antarctica). The trip came about through a friend we’ve traveled with two times before. I had met her in 2013 when my first Tesla book was coming out (we were both involved with the Tesla Science Foundation and her mother is from Serbia, like Tesla). Since then, we’ve joined her and her travel organization, EuroCircle, on two trips. The first took us to Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia, one of the highlights of which was meeting the Prince and Princess of Serbia in the Royal Palace. The second was to Australia and New Zealand. This time we flew for over 13 hours to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, then another 2.5 hours to Arusha, Tanzania. After a night in a small hotel outside the city, we spent the following week in the bush, living in different tented lodges each night (including the one where giraffes and wildebeests snorted and roamed outside our tent all night). We saw thousands of animals – elephants, lions, wildebeest, buffalo, zebras, antelopes, cheetahs, leopards, and tons of bird species – as we wandered through three national parks (Tarangire, Serengeti, Mt. Kilimanjaro) and the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, plus the rift valley. We even did some sunrise ballooning over the Serengeti. I’ll have more stories and photos as I get the time to sort through them.
Besides the two overseas trips, we made two road trips up to New England. The first in June was to celebrate my mother’s milestone birthday, while the second was actually my first time in many years visiting family for Christmas. I’ve taken to adding side trips to these visits. Last year I tacked on a mini-vacation on Long Island on the trip up and this year’s June visit included a one-night stop in Hartford, CT to see an Abraham Lincoln tribute river walk complete with sculptures of various styles. For the Christmas trip, because of traffic and some tentative weather forecasts, there was no overnight stop but on the way, I steered the car into Concord, MA. I had started reading a book called The People of Concord just before the drive and wanted to learn more about the vibrant writer community there in the 1800s. I also wanted to stop at the Concord Museum because the Lincoln Memorial Centennial special exhibit that I had missed earlier in the year when it was in western Massachusetts was resident in Concord only until February. The exhibit and the Museum were both fabulous and well worth the stop. A brief side trip on the way back involved Henry Wilson, a Senator during the Civil War that played major roles in at least two Lincoln achievements (later he was Ulysses S. Grant’s second vice president).
There was one more short travel event in November. I attended the Lincoln Forum in Gettysburg, PA, where I gave some presentations and accepted the prestigious Wendy Allen Award on behalf of the Lincoln Group of DC, of which I am currently president.
Overall, it was a good travel year despite the challenges (not mention being busy with my book release, which I’ll talk more about in my annual writer’s life post).
So, what’s up for 2023?
Fingers crossed that we don’t get a resurgence of COVID or some other pandemic-related restrictions. But assuming a year at least as available as this one, 2023 should be a good travel year. We’re already booked on a Windstar small ship cruise in April from Lisbon to Barcelona with many stops along the way, including Casablanca, Morocco. That will give us a second country in Africa and a far different experience than Tanzania. Earlier in the April I’ll be doing a road trip to New England that will combine my previously planned “Chasing Abraham Lincoln” stops plus some more related to a possible new writing project. November will have the annual Lincoln Forum. Beyond that, the travel schedule is still in flux. There are a couple of big overseas options I’m considering for late in the year, but I would like to get some sort of travel – either overseas or road trip – in during the summer. I’ll also plan on road tripping to see family at least twice more in the year, plus some shorter day-tripping to see key locations less far afield. And of course, there are all those plans that the “COVID era” put on the back burner, so we’ll have to see what fits into my schedule. Stay tuned!
[Photo credit: Ru Sun (See the lion outside the window?)]
Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America is available at booksellers nationwide.
It seems I have to make a choice. The plan was to go to Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes in May. I even wrote a post last month, Preparing for Machu Picchu, in which I compared the area to a previous trip I made to the Argentinian Andes.
I admit I’ve been lax in following through on those preparations, some of which must be made sufficiently in advance to ensure getting in the queue. May is getting very close and arrangements are still not set.
And now a complication. The Tesla Science Foundation is planning a conference for July in Belgrade, Serbia. Attached to the conference is a 9-day trip that includes Belgrade (with a private reception with the reigning Prince and Princess), Montenegro, and Dubrovnik. I’ve always wanted to get to Serbia, and especially to the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, a place that I’ve held dear since the release of my book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity.
Logistically I can’t do both this year. Which sets up a choice. Given my dearth of organization for Peru I’m thinking that trip might best be put off until next year, and with the extra time to prepare, possibly expanded to include Lake Titicaca, northern Argentina, and Iguazu Falls. The Serbian trip would take less preparation on my part because it’s being planned by a highly skilled tour planner that also just happens to be a key player in the Tesla Science Foundation.
So this week is the time to decide all of this. I’ll let you know what happens.
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Finally getting a chance to write on Science Traveler for the first time since Monday’s update on the Scandinavia trip plans. That trip is for the end of May, but before that a lot is happening. Much of it is writing. And the rest of it is doing interesting things worth writing about.
Current writing projects are headlined by my forthcoming book on Thomas Edison. The publishers of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity asked that do a similar treatment of Tesla’s biggest rival. I’m working on the early chapters and finding that Edison, like Tesla, was an interesting personality, though in a few ways almost the opposite of each other. Surprisingly, Edison wasn’t as great a businessman as most people think. The irony is that while others often got credit for the contributions of Tesla, Edison often got credit for the contributions of others. Publication is scheduled for 2016 but I’ll post more on this here as the writing progresses.
My concurrent e-book writing project is called Lincoln and Tesla: Connected by Fate. There are a surprising number of connections between Nikola Tesla and our 16th President, and this book takes a look at all of them. Stay tuned for more info and expected publication on Amazon this summer. Here’s a preview.
Other writing includes a forthcoming piece called And the War Ends I wrote for the Smithsonian Civil War Studies website. This will be the third article for them and covers the end of the war and Lincoln’s assassination. This week has also seen a “microfiction” experiment called Executing One Final Joke on Hot White Snow and How the Media Enable Climate Denial and Misinform the Public on The Dake Page. Oh, and there is the Lincoln and Science book proposal.
I also have tons of events on my calendar that will keep me busy for a while (as if writing two books and a proposal for a third wasn’t enough to do).
March 21: Lincoln Institute full day symposium in Ford’s Theatre
March 22: Wine-tasting and bald eagle viewing on the eastern shore
April 9: Tesla Spirit Awards in Philadelphia
April 11: Lincoln Group book discussion
April 14-15: Ford’s Theatre events related to Lincoln assassination
April 21: Lincoln Group dinner meeting
April 24: CPRC-SETAC Annual Spring meeting
May 16: Lincoln Group Legacy of Lincoln full day symposium
And that’s just for starters.
Somewhere within this time frame I should be receiving my first advance payment for the Edison book and my spring royalties for the Tesla book. The Tesla Wizard book is back in Barnes and Noble stores and selling fast while the Tesla and Renewable Energy e-book is available on Amazon. On top of that, yesterday I shipped a second case of 24 books to the Tesla Science Foundation for them to give as gifts to teachers who have worked so hard to get Nikola Tesla incorporated into school curricula.
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NOTE: To schedule appearances, email to davidjkent DOT writer AT gmail DOT com
Upcoming appearances:
May 15, 2024: “Lincoln’s Influence on Science & Technology in the Civil War” presentation, York (PA) Civil War Round Table [Details and RSVP Here (Scroll Down)]
May 21, 2024: Hosting Nancy Bradeen Spannaus “Lincoln and Jefferson and Hamilton and Defeating Slavery,” Lincoln Group of DC, Zoom Only [Details and to RSVP]
June 6, 2024: White House Historical Association History Happy Hour on Lincoln: The Fire of Genius [Register Here]
October 15, 2024: “Lincoln and the Election of 1864,” presentation and leading discussion for Lincoln Group of DC [Details Coming Soon]
TBD: Joining the History Book Group for discussion of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius. Virtual. [DATE TBD]
Selected recent appearances:
April 16, 2024: Hosted Christopher Oakley for the Lincoln Group of DC monthly meeting. Virtual. [Video Here]
March 14, 2024: Moderator of White House Historical Association History Happy Hour Featuring Carl Adams [Watch the Video Here]
February 21, 2024: Co-hosted Harold Holzer for the joint LGDC/CWRTDC Lincoln Birthday Banquet, Fort Myer [C-SPAN Video Here]
February 12, 2024: Presentation of the Gettysburg Address at the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln Birthday wreath laying.
January 16, 2024: Hosting Andrew Lang for the Lincoln Group of DC monthly meeting. Virtual. [Watch Video]
December 5, 2023: Hosted and moderated the LGDC luncheon featuring Terry Alford
November 16-19, 2023: The Lincoln Forum conference, Gettysburg, PA
October 17, 2023: Moderated the LGDC program parsing the Gettysburg Address [Watch Video]
April 15, 2023: Keynote presentation at the annual banquet of the Lincoln Society of Peekskill, Peekskill, NY [Details here]
March 25, 2023: Presentation at the ALI Symposium, Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC. [Watch the Video]
February 22, 2023: Attendance at A Walk to Respect, a conversation between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
February 12, 2023: Lincoln’s Birthday Wreath Laying, Lincoln Memorial
February 11, 2023: Keynote speaker, Lincoln’s Birthday Banquet, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), Alexandria, VA
February 8, 2023: Joint LGDC/CWRTDC dinner lecture by Jon Meacham, Washington, DC [Recording Coming Soon]
February 3, 2023: Virtual talk on Lincoln: The Fire of Genius for students, faculty, staff, community of Lone Star College-Kingwood [Watch here]
January 13, 2023: My Interview for a nationally syndicated radio program called Our American Stories premiers. [Listen to the Podcast]
January 12, 2023: Interview with President Lincoln’s Cottage as part of their Scholar Sessions, Virtual [Watch the Video Here]
January 11, 2023: Looking for Lincoln Conversations, “How Lincoln Institutionalized Science and Technology in the Federal Government,” Virtual, 7 pm CT (8 pm ET) [[Watch the Video Here]
November 17, 2022: Accepted the Wendy Allen Award for the Lincoln Group of DC at the Lincoln Forum [Read about it here]
November 16-19, 2022: Presentation, Breakout session, Book signing, Lincoln Forum, Gettysburg, PA [See the schedule]
October 26, 2022: “The Art and Science of Abraham Lincoln,” Arts Club of Washington, Washington, DC
October 13, 2022: “Lincoln, Science, Technology, and the Civil War,” Civil War Round Table of DC, Fort Myer, Arlington, VA [Audio available soon here and Video Here]
September 17, 2022: “Lincoln, Mathew Brady, and Photographic Technology,” Dedication event at Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC
September 16, 2022: “Lincoln, Science, and Technology in the Civil War,” lecture at the Cosmos Club, Washington, DC
September 13, 2022: The Fire of Genius Book Launch Party with the Lincoln Group of DC, Maggiano’s Restaurant, Washington, DC [SEE ON C-SPAN2 AT 9:30 AM, NOV. 19TH, THEN ON VIDEO THEREAFTER]
September 3, 2022: The Fire of Genius lecture for the Rock Creek Civil War Round Table, Washington, DC (Online)
September 1, 2022: Release Day Interview by Daniel Weinberg of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop on A House Divided broadcast! [Check out the video]
August 19, 2022: Interview with Andy Lucien of the Civil War Center Podcast [Listen to the Podcast here]
May 22, 2022: Lincoln Memorial Centennial on the Memorial steps. [David J. Kent, Organizer and Master of Ceremonies] [Watch the Video on C-SPAN]
January 18, 2022: “Archer Alexander: The Monument’s Unknown Hero” by Dorris Keeven-Franke [Introduction] [See the replay here] Access Passcode: D&3+wx8e
May 18, 2021: Became President of the Lincoln Group of DC
April 13, 2021: Panel member on “The Case for Honoring Lincoln” for the Illinois State Society. [Zoom] Watch the recorded event here.
January 15, 2021: Chaired a panel on “Teaching Lincoln.” Other panelists were from the Library of Congress, Lincoln Cottage, and Ford’s Theatre. Cosmos Club Civil War Round Table, Washington, D.C. [Zoom]
September 18, 2020: Invited to “Dialogue on Civil War Statues” with journalist Barry Wood, Moderated by Rod Ross. Cosmos Club, Washington DC. [Zoom]
September 5, 2020: Invited speaker at Rock Creek Civil War Round Table. “Abraham Lincoln’s Long Road to Emancipation.” [MS Team]
June 26, 2020: “What Would Lincoln Do.” Interview and 1.5-hour conversation with filmmaker Annabel Park on The Talk on Main St. [Watch it here]
June 4, 2020: “Lincoln and Viruses: The Past and Present Collide.” Invited speaker at the Library Company of Philadelphia, June 4, 2020. [Watch it here]
April 5, 2020: Featured hour interview on The Railsplitter: The Abraham Lincoln Podcast, Episode #122. Interview of me on my blog post “That Time Lincoln Got a Virus and Almost Died,” published on my website 3/25/20. Interview took place on April 3, 2020 with all three hosts. Went live on the podcast website on 4/5/20. [Podcasts archived at https://therailsplitter.podbean.com/]
[Note the photos and info below are being retired. See above for current appearance schedule. Watch for updates and new photos. Media information also on the way.]
Check out these photos sent to me by fans (if you send me yours, I’ll post it here too!). There are also photos of historic meetings:
Meeting HRH Prince Alexander of Serbia
And HRH Princess Katherine of Serbia
Plus, Dr. Branimir Jovanovic, Tesla Museum, Belgrade
Posted by Bridget R. Gaudette on “March for Science” Facebook page, 2/9/17
Two books in one – from Josh Amaya 10-10-16 FB
Melissa Nolledo, Photographer Extraordinaire
Nikola Lonchar, President, Tesla Science Foundation
Ljubo Vujovic, President, Tesla Memorial Society of New York
Dr. Pablo Vigliano, Universidad Nacional del Comahue-Bariloche
Kids like it too…
Kyle Driebeek donating a book to his school library
Some day I’ll be as tall as Tesla
Being interviewed…
…by Tesla Magazine…
…and Tesla TV
More testimonials and cool stuff!
“Beautiful book, great storytelling.” – Lisa Gensheimer, Goodreads (5 stars)
Exton, PA
New Yorker Hotel, NYC
“I got my book, not what I expected, can’t believe the graphics and print, read most every book there is on Tesla, you gave it Life!!”
– Jim Nelson, Facebook, 7/18/13
“Clear, accessible writing and beautiful photographs and ephemera make this book a fun and easy read.”
– Alyb, Goodreads
“I have never read such a beautiful book! Loved it!”
– Cindi Taylor Nelson, Facebook
“There are several biographies about Nicola Tesla however this one by David Kent is more informative, easy to understand, fun! and just a damn good book. I read the entire book in a 24 hour period, I could not put it down and that does not happen very often. If you want to understand why you enjoy all the comforts of electricity than get a copy of this book you will not be disappointed. Kent is just one of those people who knows how to tell a story.” – Alexander Stevens, Facebook
In addition, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity has received high praise from:
– Nikola Lonchar (President, Tesla Science Foundation)
– Jane Alcorn (President, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe)
– William Terbo (Grand-nephew and closest living relative of Nikola Tesla)
– Nenad Stankovic (Publisher of Tesla Magazine)
and many more!
Meeting the cast of the off-Broadway play, TESLA (written by Sheri Graubert; directed by Sanja Bestic; starring James Lee Taylor, Jack Dimich, and a wonderful cast)
We 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.
Today marked a milestone in the production of my forthcoming book, 
As 
Some followers will recall that my annual travel roundup has been called “
Current writing projects are headlined by my forthcoming book on 
