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Tesla Goes to the Movies

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Nikola TeslaFor a guy that died penniless in 1943, Nikola Tesla has sure become a modern day pop figure. Besides the usual documentaries, Tesla has made appearances in several mainstream movies.

For example, Tesla is a key character in the movie “The Prestige,” starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine.  In keeping with his rock star status, Nikola Tesla is played by none other than iconic rock star David Bowie.  The Prestige centers on the competing lives of two turn of the 20th Century magicians, each vying for fame and fortune in the emerging yet surprisingly cutthroat world of magic.  Each tries to outdo the other in developing new tricks and when one rival is seemingly able to be in two places at once, the other seeks out the mysterious Nikola Tesla, then working in his remote Colorado Springs laboratory.  At first, the “magic” of Tesla’s electronic machine seems not to be found, or was it?  Soon the secret is revealed to the magician and Tesla alike, but not to the filmgoing audience.  Now two magicians can seemingly be in two places at once, and the rivalry expands through deaths of loved ones – and the trial of one magician for apparently murdering the other.  But as with all magic and deceitful twists and turns, not is all what it seems.  And Tesla’s magic seems the most amazing of all, a magic that neither magician could replicate on his own.

Another movie due out in 2013 is “Fragments from Olympus: The Vision of Nikola Tesla.” In it, “the enigmatic life of electrical genius Nikola Tesla unravels through a posthumous F.B.I. investigation into his particle beam research, including a new super weapon called the “death ray”.” [More on the conspiracy theories surrounding Tesla in my book.]

Even more intriguing is the recent announcement by the Facebook site “Nikola Tesla,” which reported that “at fall begins the filming of a movie about the great Serbian scientist, Nikola Tesla.” The film is expected to be filmed, at least in part, in Chicago, home of the famous Columbian Exhibition that featured Tesla’s massive generators as commercialized by George Westinghouse. Slated to play Telsa is none other than Christian Bale of “Batman” fame – and to the Prestige movie noted above.

Bale not “Hollywood” enough for you. The same Tesla site on Facebook has revealed that Nicholas Cage (!) will play Thomas Edison, one-time employer and then arch-rival of Nikola Tesla. Also being considered for roles are Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija, and Hollywood luminaries Martin Sheen, Megan Fox and Jessica Alba.

The tentative title is “Tesla, Ruler of the World,” and reportedly “will revolve around a modern-day technological crisis that somehow ties back to Tesla’s life.”  According to the Tesla Facebook page:

The first stage recorders are going to take place in Serbia, and then the team is going to move to Chicago. For the purposes of the film, our country will build the whole “New York” scenery as well as the scenery of the other cities which are important in the biography of Nikola Tesla. A prominent weekly magazine “Hollywood Reporter” also wrote about this film ten days ago. They state that this is a Serbian-American cooperation, that the film will include an international actors team, and that the story about Tesla will reach the audience through a partnership with a major film studio. Renowned “Universal Studios” will partially finance the filming, but will also be responsible for promoting the movie and its distribution in the world. As the “Hollywood Reporter” said even before the shooting, this movie is seen as a “first pick” of prestigious awards.”

If all goes well the movie will come out roughly around the time of my book “Nikola Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity,” i.e., June 20, 2013.

Follow developments here or on my Facebook page.

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Where is Stonehenge? It’s Here, Of Course!

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If you pop around to the different pages on this web site (which I know you do), you’ll notice that the header photo changes randomly.  I previously had four photos that rotated, and now there are five – Stonehenge. In the unlikely event you don’t know what Stonehenge is you can find out more here. The best way to show you is with a photo.

Stonehenge

Pretty cool for a bunch of big stones, eh?

For a little more about each of the photos you can go to this now updated article.

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Edinburgh Scotland – Have Fun Storming the Castle

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Ah, Edinburgh. I have fond memories of this wee city, the capital of Scotland. I had the good fortune of living there for all too short a time – only three months – but during the brightest summer in recent history I’m told. I was there to work, but spent most weekends exploring the surroundings.

One of the centerpieces, both figuratively and literally, is the Edinburgh Castle. The summer I was there saw the release of J.K. Rowling’s last (or perhaps second to last) Harry Potter book. Though born in England Rowling called Edinburgh her home and so there was a grand book launch at the castle the likes of I’ve never seen before. The castle (needless to say) sits on a hill in the center of town and the line of children and their parents stretched all the way out of the castle and down the narrow streets:

Edinburgh Castle

The above photo was taken from the top of Arthur’s Seat, the rocky outcrop looming over the city.  Here’s a view to give you an idea. It was a beautiful place to hike up to and contemplate life.

Edinburgh Scotland

The Seat hovers above the Salisbury Crags, here seen from below to give you an idea of how high up I was:

Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh, Scotland

And the castle a bit closer:

Edinburgh Castle

Ah, this inspires a bit of poetry, like the opening lines of Jason Fenton’s appropriately named “Edinburgh Castle:”

Roots of stone
rise unfettered out of the earth;
crenellations of cobble
burnish with pride that cascades
into the Firth of Forth.

Okay, let’s leave town so I can show you a gorgeous photo of the Ballachulish Mountains at Loch Linnhe, a half day drive north of Edinburgh towards the Isle of Skye:

Ballachulish Mountains at Loch Linnhe

More about Edinburgh Castle can be read here. If you go try to do it in August when they have the “Fringe,” a festival of art and music performances that fill the halls and the streets for a full month.

That’s it for now. This is just a teaser as I’ll be out visiting a bunch of old rocks standing in the (likely) rain. I promise more stories and photos when I return.

David J. Kent is 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!

[Fragile]

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Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla – A Scientific Rock Star is Born

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Happy birthday Nikola TeslaToday is Nikola Tesla’s birthday.

Right out of central casting the storm arrived as Djouka Tesla went into labor.  Praying for an easy delivery of her fourth child, the roar of the thunder drowned out her muffled, yet experienced, cries of pain.  At precisely midnight the cries transferred from Djouka’s lips to those of the newly born Nikola.  In an omen that couldn’t have been scripted more eloquently, a lightning bolt crackled from the sky and lit up the small house just as Nikola entered this world.

Startled, the midwife turned to the young mother and said “Your new son is a child of the storm.”

“No,” responded Djuka, “He is a child of the light.”

And so it seems that from the beginning Nikola Tesla was destined to electrify the world with his discoveries.

That warm July 9th into 10th of 1856 took place in Smiljan, a small village located in what was then the Austrian Empire but now is part of present day Croatia. Being born exactly at midnight led to some uncertainty as to what date his birthday should be celebrated, but in practice Tesla’s birthdays were rarely celebrated much at all, at least until his later years when he was world famous.  Then his birthdays (officially July 10th) became celebrated affairs complete with press coverage.  But that was much later.  For now he was just the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest in a tiny country hamlet.

In contrast, his 75th birthday party was something of a marvel for Tesla, who by that time had become largely secluded in his New York hotel room. A young science fiction writer whom he had befriended, Kenneth Swezey, arranged to have famous engineers and scientists from all over the world send something to Tesla. Letters and tributes flooded in, including those from several Nobel laureates. Even a note from Albert Einstein, who congratulated Tesla on his contributions to the field of high-frequency currents. Time magazine put Nikola Tesla on the cover.

Science editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback nearly gushed his praise, writing:

“If you mean the man who really invented, in other words, originated and discovered – not merely improved what had already been invented by others – then without a shade of doubt Nikola Tesla is the world’s greatest inventor, not only in the present but in all history…His basic as well as revolutionary discoveries, for sheer audacity, have no equal in the annals of the intellectual world.”

All was good for Tesla. Unfortunately, over the remaining dozen years of his life he would become largely forgotten as others – notably Edison, Westinghouse and Marconi – got tactic credit for Tesla’s actual contributions. Tesla died in 1943 just a few months before the Supreme Court upheld his original patent and gave Tesla credit for invention of the radio (for which Marconi had received a Nobel Prize in 1909 after having “borrowed” Tesla’s ideas).

More on Tesla from the Tesla Society of USA and Canada.

In case you missed it, check out the two Tesla statues at Niagara Falls.

Nikola Tesla – The Book

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!

 

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Two Views of Nikola Tesla at Niagara Falls

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Nikola Tesla and his alternating current system enabled the harnessing of hydroelectric power at Niagara Falls, the first great electrical power generation and transmission system in the country. To honor his contributions there are now two statues of Tesla at Niagara.

The first one was installed on Goat Island on the American side in the 1970s. The bronze statue is a copy of one sitting at the University of Belgrade in Belgrade, Serbia. It shows him sitting in a chair studying blueprints.

Nikola Tesla Niagara Falls American side

The second was installed in 2006 in Queen Victorian Park overlooking the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Here he is standing, a dashing young man in a long formal coat, holding an elegant cane, and a fancy top hat.

Nikola Tesla Canadian side

Which statue do you like best?

I’ll have more on Tesla’s contributions to the generation of electricity at Niagara in the book.

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Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial – Washington DC

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The photograph below is a close-up of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC. This beautifully massive monument represents King as a “Stone of Hope” emerging out of the “Mountain of Despair,” from the famous line in his “I have a dream” speech given August 28, 1963 on the steps of the nearby Lincoln Memorial.

Martin Luther King

The site, which covers four acres along the Potomac tidal basin, was opened to the public on August 22, 2011. The dedication ceremony was scheduled for August 28th – the anniversary of his famous speech, but was postponed to October 16th because of the arrival of Hurricane Irene. In addition to the “stone” and the “mountain” there is a long wall displaying some of his most well known quotes.

Martin Luther King Memorial

Overall, the effect is breathtaking. King emerging from the mountain and gazing stalwartly toward the memorial to Thomas Jefferson standing resolute across the tidal basin. The artist did justice to the man and to the memory of his accomplishments.

David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of 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.

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

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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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Abraham Lincoln Vampire HunterAbraham Lincoln seems to be all the rage in the movie theaters these days.  While the big screen is mostly focused on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, there is also a lesser known video out called Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies.

I kid you not.

I haven’t seen the Vampire Hunter movie yet (nor the Zombie movie), but I did read the book by Seth Grahame-Smith. In fact, I have a first edition inscribed and signed to me by Grahame-Smith himself (thank you Abraham Lincoln Book Shop).  To be honest, I don’t read a lot of fiction these days and clearly this book is rather more bizarre than any of the other books I’ve read on Abraham Lincoln. Grahame-Smith takes the well-known icon of history and weaves a story that almost seems plausible at times. Not surprising from a man who also is the best-selling author of a book called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”

Given the success of both the book and the movie, it’s safe to say that Grahame-Smith has found his writing niche.

I won’t give away too much of the book. Suffice to say that the title accurately describes the premise. It turns out that the death of Lincoln’s mother when he was nine years old, previously thought to be “milk sickness,” was really at the hands of a vampire to whom Lincoln’s father owed money. Which, of course, explains why Lincoln didn’t get along too well with his father for the rest of his life. What follows is a visit from “Henry” and a lifetime pursuing vampires while also flat-boating down the Mississippi, serving in the Illinois state legislature and the US House of Representatives, building a law career, and eventually becoming President of the United States. The book seems a lot like the movie Forrest Gump in the sense that vampires seem to appear alongside well-known events and people as Lincoln moves through his life. And death.

Overall I found the book enjoyable, if not always exactly right on the historical fact (even given the creative license of having vampires play a key role in Lincoln’s life), but people who like Lincoln will be happy enough if they can suspend belief a bit. People who like vampires will probably find it believable enough. It isn’t as spell-binding as the latest Michael Connelly or Stephen King thrillers, but it’s well worth the read.

Next up – the movie itself!

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Chapters 1, 2 and 3 of Tesla: Wizard of Electricity are Done!

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Nikola TeslaTonight I finished Chapter 3 of the Nikola Tesla book. Chapters 1 and 2 were finished in previous weeks.  I also have parts of other Chapters finished. I’m on schedule to have the first draft of the book done by the end of July/first week of August.  Which is good, because I have a September 1st deadline to deliver the book to my editor at Sterling Publishing.

As before, “Done,” of course, doesn’t actually mean done.  I will still need to do significant editing, pull out sidebar quotes (it will be a very visually appealing book), and obtain the photos to be used.  But the substance for at least three chapters is complete.

Given Tesla’s obsession with numbers divisible by three, having three chapters done would tickle his fancy.

Okay, back to work. Only 6 more chapters to finish. 🙂

See other Tesla posts here.

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Nikola Tesla the Germaphobe

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Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla was more than a little germaphobic. Before eating he would use one of his required 18 napkins* to gently wipe the germs off of each piece of silverware, china and glassware. He commonly wore soft leather gloves and refused to shake hands with anyone. On the rare occasions that he was unable to avoid a handshake he would quickly excuse himself and rush off to the washroom to cleanse the offending germs off his hand.

How did he get this way?

Prone to idiosyncratic behavior, Tesla’s fear of germs began after he observed through a microscope the many microscopic creatures found in normal drinking water. About the experience Tesla would later write to Robert Underwood Johnson:

“If you would watch only for a few minutes the horrible creatures, hairy and ugly beyond anything you can conceive, tearing each other up with the juices diffusing throughout the water – you would never again drink a drop of unboiled or unsterilized water.”

After reading that, I’m not so sure I can look at a glass of water the same way again.

* Tesla was also obsessed with doing everything in multiples of three, hence the 18 napkins, 27 laps around the pool, 3 times around the block, etc., etc., etc.

The passage above is a modified excerpt from Chapter 3: The Odd Mr. Tesla in my book, Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity. The book is now into its 8th printing with translations around the world.

See other Tesla posts here.

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.

 

 

 

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A Conversation Overheard – The Pope’s Swiss Guards

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When in Rome do as the Romans do.  By which I mean speak Italian and/or Latin, drink a lot of wine, and constantly carry an ice cream cone – gelato – when walking.  At least that seems to be what they are always doing in Rome.

So assuming you’re not Roman and are visiting Rome as a tourist, and specifically if you are a tourist visiting the Vatican, then you must visit St. Peter’s Basilica.  And as the invariably long line snakes to the entrance – soon after going through the security checkpoint – make sure to look to the right just before making that hard turn to the front of the church.  And you’re likely to see the Swiss Guard.

Swiss guardYou would be hard pressed to tell from the multi-colored – even garish – ceremonial uniforms of today’s Swiss guards to know that historically the guards were some of the fiercest fighters of the middle ages.  The guards were called in by Pope Julius II to help fight wars with those pesky Venetians and the French, that is, when Julius wasn’t bossing around both Michelangelo and Raphael as they created their respective masterpieces – the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the School of Athens.

Today of course the Swiss Guards are purely ceremonial.  After all, an easy lifestyle of standing around with a pike and retiring with a papal pension is almost worth wearing those colors and feathered helmets. But admittedly there are days even a Guard would rather not be caught dead looking like that. The day I was there I overheard this short conversation:

Hey, Luigi, do these yellow stripes make me look fat?

No Giuseppe, you look fine. Don’t worry about it.

Are you sure, Luigi? I’ve been putting on a few kilos lately. All that gelato I think.

I said you look fine. We go through this every day. You ask me if the stripes make you look fat, I say no, you yammer about eating too much gelato. This job is boring enough as it is, the least you could do is talk about something interesting for a change.  Hey, is that your girlfriend over there?

Giuseppe glances to the side (see photo).  Oh mio, it is…it is my beloved Bianca. Cazzo, I told her I was the Pope’s right hand man.  I cannot let her see me dressed in this silly outfit. Luigi, rapido, run me through with your pike. Oh Signore, portami in cielo ora.

Okay, maybe I heard wrong. But seriously, wouldn’t that be your reaction?