It’s a busy week of writing – I’m working on articles for the Lincoln Group of DC newsletter, for Tesla Magazine, and for the Smithsonian Civil War Studies website. Amidst all of this I’m out science traveling. More on that in the future. Which gets me to a quick visit in Ipswich.
I previewed my most recent trip to my hometown in Massachusetts in this article. More articles are here (click and scroll down). The talk on Nikola Tesla I gave at the Ipswich Museum is here.
Ipswich is the “Birthplace of American Independence,” the home of the famous Ipswich clam (aka, steamers), the Clam Box, Crane Beach, and “The Castle.” It’s also home to more first period houses than any other place in the United States. In short, it’s pretty cool.
Some of the more famous houses include the Whipple House:
The John Heard House (now home to the Ipswich Museum), typical of the wealthier folks in town:
Directly across the street from the Heard House is a reconstruction of a simple timber frame structure called the Alexander Knight House, circa 1657. This was the kind of house that most families lived in during early Ipswich days (incorporated 1634):
And then there is this yellow house. I actually don’t know much about it even though it has stood on this prominent rise overlooking the main downtown area for my entire life. I’ll dig up more information for a later post.
There is much more to Ipswich than these glimpses. I’ll write more later but for starters you can check out the Stories from Ipswich blog by Historian Gordon Harris.
Nikola Tesla is well known for harnessing the power of Niagara Falls. But did he also figure out how to harness power from the rain? Whereas hydroelectric power is limited to areas with significant natural drops like Niagara or artificial drops like Hoover Dam, the rain falls everywhere.
So one of Tesla’s wilder ideas was to foresee getting electrical power from rainy days, an energy source he thought was essentially unlimited, at least in theory. He argued that the practical energy from rain would “represent over one-half a billion horsepower,” more than six times greater than the total horsepower that could be garnered from harnessing all of the waterfalls in the United States.
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In related news, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity is back in Barnes and Noble stores and is selling even faster than anyone anticipated – almost 5000 copies in less than three weeks! That’s half of the entire first print run that took six months to sell out. Get yours while you still can, either at Barnes and Noble stores, BN.com online, or Amazon.com. Or order a signed and inscribed copy directly from me.
Thanks again for reading about Nikola Tesla. And watch for the next book soon!
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Though Nikola Tesla was born only nine years before the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and half a world apart, there nevertheless are an uncanny number of connections between the two great men. One of them involves a World’s Fair (two, actually).
Nikola Tesla’s first big break in the war of the currents with Thomas Edison was at the World’s Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. Up to this time Edison dominated the growing electricity business with his direct current (DC) systems. But DC had some severe limitations and Tesla favored his own alternating current (AC) system. Edison brutally protected his DC turf with a campaign to discredit AC, even supporting the development of the first electric chair to show how dangerous AC could be.
But Tesla had teamed up with George Westinghouse and the combination of Tesla’s AC system and Westinghouse’s business acumen allowed them to win the bidding to light up the Chicago World’s Fair – the first attempt to electrify at this scale. It was a huge success.
The World’s Fair grounds were designed by some of the greatest architects of the time, including Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmstead. The canals, pools, and massive buildings – the White City – were tremendous, but the centerpiece was a 65-foot tall sculpture called the Statue of the Republic (nicknamed “Big Mary”). With its stone base it stood 111-feet high over the Grand Basin.
The connection to Abraham Lincoln? Well, “Big Mary” was designed by none other than Daniel Chester French. French, of course, went on to design the seated statue of Abraham Lincoln that dominates the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Interestingly, Daniel Burnham, the architect who supervised the design and building of the Chicago World’s Fair and who selected French to design “Big Mary,” was also on the Lincoln Commission tasked with designing a fitting memorial to our 16th President. Burnham strongly lobbied for another architect, Henry Bacon, to build the Lincoln Memorial. In fact, Bacon did design and build the Greek Doric temple that houses French’s famous statue and serves as one of the world’s most visited monuments.
Meanwhile, French’s original Statue of the Republic was destroyed by fire only two years after the fair ended. French was later commissioned to create a smaller version – only 24-feet high and gilded in bronze – for the 25th anniversary of the fair. Appropriately, it now stands on the site of the original World’s Fair Electricity Building, the place where Nikola Tesla first brought alternating current into the modern world.
Oh, there’s another World’s Fair connection between Nikola Tesla and Abraham Lincoln. I’ll talk about that in a later post. 🙂
Thomas Waite is an author of thriller novels. I reviewed his first book, Terminal Value, last summer. His newest book, Lethal Code, is even better. Here’s my review as posted on Goodreads.
This was a fun book to read, and a very hard one to put down. It’s a non-stop action thriller dealing with efforts to counteract a massive cyberattack that shuts down the US. Opening with a loss of electrical and communications power, the book doesn’t lack for energy itself. Waite’s writing keeps the magnificent story moving at a frantic pace and takes us to places we may not have expected. It also gives us insights into our own human nature and what we might want to think about before the very plausible scenario of cyberwarfare.
After reading both of Thomas Waite’s books (the other is Terminal Value), I’ve already started anticipating his next one.
David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. You can order a signed copy directly from me, download the ebook at barnesandnoble.com, and find hard copies at Barnes and Noble bookstores, as well as online at B&N.com and Amazon.com.
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The world woke up this morning to the news of the untimely death of actor, comedian, and humanitarian Robin Williams. Having been a fan of his since his first appearance as Mork on the sitcom Happy Days, before he spun the character off into his own show Mork and Mindy, his demise comes as a shock. The world mourns.
One of the ways many people are honoring his life’s work is by posting a clip of Williams from the movie Dead Poet’s Society. It features a passage from Walt Whitman’s extended metaphor poem, “O Captain! My Captain!”
It’s a poignant moment in the movie. It’s also a poem Whitman wrote about the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Walt Whitman lived in Washington during the Civil War and often watched President Lincoln ride by horseback, later by carriage, to and from his summer living quarters in the Soldier’s Home (now called the Lincoln Cottage). He admired Lincoln, and after the assassination Whitman composed “O Captain! My Captain!” to mourn the loss of such a great man. According to the Wiki article:
The captain in the poem refers to Abraham Lincoln who is the captain of the ship, representing the United States of America. The first line establishes a happy mood as it addresses the captain. The phrase “our fearful trip is done” is talking about the end of the Civil War. The next line references the ship, America, and how it has “weathered every rack”, meaning America has braved the tough storm of the Civil War, and “the prize we sought”, the end of slavery, “is won”. The following line expresses a mood of jubilation of the Union winning the war as it says “the people all exulting”; however, the next line swiftly shifts the mood when it talks of the grimness of the ship, and the darker side of the war. Many lost their lives in the American Civil War, and although the prize that was sought was won, the hearts still ache amidst the exultation of the people. The repetition of heart in line five calls attention to the poet’s vast grief and heartache because the Captain has bled and lies still, cold, and dead (lines six through eight). This is no doubt referencing the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Whitman’s sorrow for the death of his idol.
Such a sad, yet exalting, eulogy for the fallen President. And somehow, a fitting elegy for the tormented Robin Williams. Such a trial was his internal life; such a treasure was his gift to all of us.
As Williams’ character in Dead Poet Society puts it, the poem encourages us to think:
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
This begs the question: “What will your verse be?”
Robin Williams’ verse was cut short. For us the living, our verse is still to be written.
A big thank you to everyone who downloaded a copy of Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time. There were over 500 downloads during this past week, which helped the e-book reach #1 in several Amazon categories. Thank you all for your support, both for this e-book and for Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (which is now back in Barnes and Noble stores this month).
After you read the e-book, please take a moment to leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Doing so helps spread the word about Nikola Tesla to as many people as possible.
Thanks again for reading about Nikola Tesla. And watch for the next book soon!
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Today is the last day you can download a free copy of my new e-book, “Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time” on Amazon.com. In thanks to all of the people who celebrate Nikola Tesla and have supported me over the last few years, I’m providing followers with the book for no cost during this limited period. After today you’ll have to purchase it.
Please leave me an honest review on Amazon.com and on Goodreads.com. Doing so helps spread the word about Tesla to as many people as possible.
Because of your support the Kindle e-book has been ranked as the #1 download for up to three categories on Amazon.
Coincident with the release of my e-book, my first book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity is back in Barnes and Noble stores this summer. It’s a perfect book for all audiences and makes a great Back to School book. More information and another free book offer can be read here.
Thank you all for spreading the word about Tesla. Because of you and the work of many others, Nikola Tesla’s contributions to society are once again being recognized by the world.
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To thank all of those people who have supported my first Tesla book, supporters who view this web page or “Like” my Facebook Author’s Page will find a link to download the book from Amazon.com at the price of only $0.99. Feel free to share this link with Tesla fans everywhere.
I do ask one favor in return for the download – Please leave me an honest review on Amazon.com and on Goodreads.com. Doing so helps spread the word about Tesla to as many people as possible.
And that is just the beginning. My first book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity is back in Barnes and Noble stores this summer, just in time for Back to School purchase. Order online at BN.com, stop by your local BN bookstore, or order a signed copy directly from me. Many Tesla fans are buying extra copies to donate to their local public and school libraries. Like last time, the books are flying off the shelves so get them while they are available.
Want more? You got it. A fellow Tesla fan is offering a chance to win one of three free, signed, copies of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. Check out his Facebook page.
This is an exciting time for Nikola Tesla. After being ignored for many decades, his contributions to the modern world are once again being recognized. With the phenomenal help of Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) and the tireless work of Nikola Lonchar (Tesla Science Foundation) and Jane Alcorn (Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe), Tesla’s last laboratory at Wardenclyffe is now in the process of becoming a world-class science museum. [BTW, Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk had committed $1 million towards the restoration. Have you bought your brick for Nik yet?]
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Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day, February 12, 1809. Both became icons of change and are will be remembered throughout history for their contributions. The book is subtitled: Shared Visions of Race, Science and Religion. While their views were not so much shared as contrasted, author James Lander deftly flips back and forth between Darwin’s and Lincoln’s lives as they experience their separate travels, coming of age, development of ideas, and eventual breakthroughs into the public eye as they dramatically change history.
While the same age, the two men have very different lives. Lincoln is born poor in the frontier with few resources and little formal education, then takes charge just as the country is rendering itself apart. His travel is entirely domestic, flatboating down the Mississippi River as a young man, traveling the circuit in Illinois as a lawyer, and the northern part of the United States as a legislator and political speaker. Darwin was born into a wealthy family, married into an even wealthier family, received the highest educational opportunities, and after spending five years traveling the world on his famous studies, became sickly and largely reclusive the rest of his life.
Still, Landers points out that while Lincoln is remembered for his fight against slavery, he also had a significant interest in science. Likewise, while Darwin is known for his Origin of Species and contributions to science, he also was an adamant abolitionist and carried on fervid correspondence with American botanist Asa Gray, in which he debated the slavery issue in depth. In fact, Landers brings us into how the academic debate raging over the singularity of man’s creation (vs multiple creation of man) influenced the ongoing discussion of equality of white and black men. “Scientific racism” becomes a common theme as it was espoused both by Lincoln’s main foil, Stephen A. Douglas, and Darwin’s scientific nemesis, Louis Agassiz.
The 26 chapters unevenly look at Lincoln and Darwin as these three main issues – race, science, and religion – pervade each of their lives. Landers does a good job of balancing the discussions of these two men for each of the issues, comparing and contrasting where applicable. Overall, this scholarly work published by the Southern Illinois University Press is well done and deserves more attention than it seems to have received.
El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, Glacier Point. We’ve all heard of the wonders of Yosemite National Park in California, but how many knew that the park was started by Abraham Lincoln? June 30th, 2014 marks the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s signing of the Yosemite Grant, the law that created what we now affectionately know as Yosemite.
“Not just a great valley, but a shrine to human foresight, the strength of granite, the power of glaciers, the persistence of life, and the tranquility of the High Sierra.” Leave it to the National Park Service to so succinctly capture the beauty of Yosemite. For this privilege we owe our gratitude to the unfortunately forgotten Galen Clark and John Conness, to John Muir, and to Abraham Lincoln for having the foresight to protect natural lands even as the Civil War interminably dragged on for its third year.
Canadian-born Galen Clark had moved to California for the Gold Rush. Unsuccessful in that endeavor and fighting for his life against tuberculosis, Clark spent much of his time roaming in the mountain air. Inspired by, and concerned for, the beauty of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees, he wrote to friends and Congress pleading for their protection. Getting the support of Irish-born Senator John Conness, Clark managed to motivate a Congress interested in strengthening Union connections with the relatively new state of California. President Lincoln, who had by this time already signed laws allowing land grants, homesteads, and the transcontinental railroad, was eager to support westward expansion. On June 30,1864 he signed the Yosemite Grant providing federal protection for Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove, which was quickly ceded over to California and became the first California State Park. Galen Clark became the first “Guardian of the Grant.”
The importance of this act cannot be overstated. For it to have happened at all while the country was in the midst of tearing itself apart is a testament to Lincoln’s and Congress’s foresight. Lincoln’s signature set precedent for establishing Yellowstone as the first National Park in 1872, to be followed by protection for other pristine – and irreplaceable – vistas.
And then there is John Muir. Muir is probably best known for his advocacy of Yosemite and the nearby Hetch Hetchy Valley. Muir’s efforts to save Hetch Hetchy were ultimately unsuccessful, but Muir teamed up with influential Century Magazine editor Robert Underwood Johnson to recapture Yosemite from state park status to federal. On October 1, 1890 Yosemite National Park was created. Johnson also urged Muir to set up a new conservation group to advocate for the preservation of all of the Sierra Nevada mountain region, and in 1892 the Sierra Club was born. [More below the video]
Those who have read my book on Nikola Tesla may recognize the names of Robert Underwood Johnson and John Muir for another reason. Johnson was a big publisher of Tesla’s articles in Century Magazine. Coincidentally, he also published the serialization of John Nicolay and John Hay’s Abraham Lincoln: A History prior to its release in book form. Muir was one of many famous guests that attended Johnson’s gala parties in his New York mansion, and became friends with another frequent guest – Nikola Tesla.
Small world, isn’t it?
Other articles connecting Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: