Hotel New Yorker Plaque
The Society, the IEEE and the Hotel New Yorker hosted a ceremony on July 10, 2001 to unveil a plaque to commemorate Tesla's residence at the Hotel from 1934 to January 7th, 1943. After a blessing by Serbian Orthodox priests from the New York metropolitan area, the plaque was unveiled by former Congressperson, Helen Delich Bentley, and Tesla grandnephew, William Terbo. Remarks were offered by Bentley, Terbo and other honored guests.

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Fox Television Tesla Program
A one-hour segment of the popular Fox series In Search Of… will describe some elements of the work of Nikola Tesla. Planning by the U.S. government to build the "Star Wars" National Missile Defense shield has revived interest in Tesla's much earlier research and predictions on that technology, which was popularized by the press as "Tesla's Death-Beam" or "Death Ray." A Fox location crew visited Society Executive Secretary, William Terbo, in March 2001, to tape an on-camera interview for the program. Airdate for the program has not been confirmed, but will probably be in the Fall 2002 schedule.

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PBS Television Special Tesla: Master Of Lightning
The 90-minute multimedia biography TESLA: MASTER OF LIGHTNING was first broadcast by PBS in December 2000. PBS reaches every TV set in the country and generates an average audience of 2.5 million households. This is the first comprehensive and accurate picture of Tesla's life and accomplishments to be presented to the national audience. The project is the result of years of research during which many new and unknown details of Tesla's life have been uncovered. The documentary contains a large and extremely rare collection of photographs of his life and work, including recreations of some of his inventions. The voice of Tesla is performed by veteran stage and screen actor, Stacy Keach, himself a great admirer of Tesla's work and personality.

TESLA: MASTER OF LIGHTNING was produced and directed by award-winning documentarian Robert Uth. Society Executive Board member Leland Anderson, author and authority on Nikola Tesla, was Technical Editor of the project. Among the on-camera interviews used in the program is that of Society Executive Board member Charlotte Muzar who, in New York in 1943, was secretary to Tesla nephew Dr. Sava Kosanovic. Through her duties, she had met Tesla several times shortly before his death and was present immediately after his death to participate in the initial inventory of his personal belongings in his Hotel New Yorker suite. After the war, Ms. Muzar personally carried Nikola Tesla's ashes to their present resting place in a golden sphere in a memorial niche in the Tesla Museum, Belgrade. Also interviewed in the program is Society Executive Secretary William Terbo, Tesla's grandnephew, who met Tesla as a young boy at the Hotel New Yorker. Mr. Terbo is one of only two persons still living who bear that closest blood relationship.

There are other positive elements that accrue to a PBS presentation of TESLA: MASTER OF LIGHTNING. The usual policy of PBS is to air this type of program several times over a three-year period. (Interested viewers should contact their local PBS outlet to determine or suggest exact date and time of repeat broadcasts.) PBS has established an educational website: pbs.org/tesla to support increased interest in Tesla. The website is to have an interactive capability. PBS also has a well-established system of program distribution to schools and a policy of making programs available to overseas networks. Sales of home video cassettes of the program are available through the PBS website: www.pbs.org and on order from Barnes & Nobel Book Stores.

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Companion Book: TESLA: MASTER OF LIGHTNING
A companion book for the PBS Special is published by Barnes & Noble Books. Authored by Society Executive Board member and well known biographer, Margaret Cheney, and documentary director Robert Uth, the 184-page, coffee-table size hard cover biography contains over 225 photos, drawings and illustrations. The $17.95 book is in its third printing and is available at Barnes & Nobel Book Stores. Ms. Cheney is also author of the 1981 biography Tesla: Man Out of Time. That book significantly anticipated the resurgence of interest in Tesla, the man and his place in history.

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Arkansas University Presents Tesla Lectures
Henderson State University at Arkadelphia hosted a series of lectures by Society Executive Secretary, William Terbo, on April 11th and 12th. The lectures "The Personality and Philosophy of Nikola Tesla" were a feature of the University's "International Focus Week 2002" program. The theme of the 2002 annual program was the Balkan nations. Senior diplomats from Washington Embassies of the various Balkan nations lectured on the history, culture and current events of their countries.

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Trip to Belgrade, 2001
Society Executive Secretary, William Terbo, visited Yugoslavia in late September and early October, 2001. Several meetings were held with the Nikola Tesla Museum (Muzej Nikole Tesle) in Belgrade and with the new Director, Mme Marija Sesic. The Museum is operating under a much more strict regime since the changes in the Federal Government. Emphasis is now focused on cataloging, recovering loaned material and preserving items that have been damaged by aging, weather and the lack of necessary funding. The Society is supporting the Museum to the best of our ability.

Mr. Terbo and Mme Sesic made a joint television appearance on the weekly Science Review program broadcast on national TV Channel 2 discussing the Society and the Museum's new acquisitions. Mr. and Mrs. Terbo were interviewed at length in Kraljevo (city of 100,000 about 100 miles south of Belgrade) for a segment of the program This Is Serbia broadcast on national TV Channel 1. The visit and the Society activities were discussed. Three press interviews were given for the national newspapers and for a newspaper serving the Yugoslav diaspora.

Invitations were honored for visits to the High School Of Mathematics (Matematicke Gimnazije) and the Nikola Tesla Polytechnical High School in Belgrade. The High School Of Mathematics is a world-class institution with a competitive admissions policy limited to only 120 gifted students per year. Polytechnical High School is the top school in its category in Yugoslavia and has an enrollment of 2,100 students. (A large bust of Tesla is prominently located at the head of the grand staircase as one enters the school.)

Meetings were held with Society European Correspondent, Mr. Momcilo Simic, to discuss and exchange information and permit appropriate follow-up activities. (Mr. Simic had been in Geneva on International Telecommunications Union, ITU, business earlier.)

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Society Website
The Society website: teslamemorialsociety.org was inaugurated in August 2000. New pages are being activated and updated on a continuing basis. Current and historical documents are being added from the collections of the Society and Society Executive Secretary, William Terbo, and from other interested members and contributors. (All contents of the website are available directly from the Society in print form.)

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Pan American Exposition Centennial
The New York Power Authority sponsored an exhibit commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Pan American Exposition, held in Buffalo in 1901. That World's Fair featured progress in all aspects of current life. The recent completion (1896) of the AC power system at Niagara Falls by Tesla and Westinghouse was the nation's most important technological development and brought international attention to Buffalo. The Society provided memorabilia support for the exhibit, which started on May 5th, 2001 and ran for six months.

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Trip to Belgrade, 2000
Society Executive Secretary William Terbo visited Yugoslavia (Serbia and Belgrade) in late August and early September, 2000. During seven days in Belgrade over a three-week period, he held nearly 20 meetings with various organizations and people important to the activities of the Society. (The efficiency of the visit was greatly facilitated by the support and assistance of Society Belgrade Correspondent and ex officio Executive Board member, Mr. Momcilo Simic.)

Two meetings were held at the Nikola Tesla Museum. Recent activities include a more thorough cataloging of memorabilia and artifacts. The most pressing need is for acid-free materials for storage of the great quantity of deteriorating items such as original newspaper clippings, many of which were cut by Tesla himself. The Society continues efforts to locate external financial support for the Museum to meet these requirements.

Meetings were held with Dr. Aleksandar Marincic of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts and Dr. Ratko Uzunovic of the Nikola Tesla Foundation. Meetings were held with Radio Television Serbia and the Federal Ministry of Telecommunications and interviews given. (The Society donated toward the bust of Tesla now installed at RTV Novi Sad. It is identical to the ones currently in the entrances of RTV Belgrade and the Ministry.)

Met with the Director of the Karic Foundation to discuss efforts related to the promotion of Nikola Tesla's legacy. Mr. and Mrs. Terbo attended The 2000 Annual International "Karic Brothers" Award ceremonies. Individual honoraria are given to highest achievement in five areas: culture and the arts; publication and journalism; scientific and research work; economics; and, humanitarian activities. An informal meeting was held with the President of the Foundation after the Awards ceremony.

Additional meetings were held with business and film people. While the country seems active and progressive, the economic situation in Yugoslavia is disastrous. Very little money is available internally for nonessential activities such as the Museum, even though Tesla is the national icon.

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Telluride Tech Festival
Held in Telluride, Colorado, August 11th through 14th, 2000, the first annual Festival was organized to celebrate the past, present and future of technology. The past, represented by Electric Age inventors and engineers: George Westinghouse, Nikola Tesla and L.L. Nunn. (Nunn was responsible for the construction of the first alternating current power plant for a mine in 1891, using the technology of Tesla and Westinghouse.) The current and future, represented by software gurus: Richard Stallman, Raymond Kurzweil and John Perry Barlow. Society Executive Secretary William Terbo spoke on the personality of Nikola Tesla.

One of the outstanding events of the Festival was the nightly demonstration of the 1.5 million volt 12-foot Tesla Coil operated by veteran Coil builder Bill Wysock. Nearly 500 people gathered each night on Telluride's closed main street for the show. At a local altitude of 9,000 feet, the Coil generated brilliant lightning bolts of as much as 20 feet.

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Nikola Tesla Testimonial Dinner
Midland, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1998

The Nikola Tesla Society, Midland Chapter, organized and hosted a dinner and program on Saturday, April 25th. The program included short speeches by three invited guests and the unveiling of a bronze statue of Nikola Tesla.

The program opened with a welcome by Mr. Michael Raich, Chapter President, and opening remarks by program emcee, Mr. David Vuich. In his remarks, Mr. Vuich, now an economics consultant in Washington, identified the contributions of various people who have worked toward the renewal of respect for Nikola Tesla, including Tesla Memorial Society (TMS) Executive Secretary, Nicholas Kosanovich. Mr. Vuich also recalled his early days growing up in Midland.

Mr. William Terbo, TMS Honorary Chairman and grand nephew of Nikola Tesla, briefly recounted instances where appropriate credit was given to Tesla in several recent events. Mr. Terbo also discussed aspects of Tesla's private persona and shared a few anecdotes from family sources.

Mr. Michael Vucelic, President and CEO of Ideal Electric Co. of Mansfield, Ohio, discussed the impact on his professional career caused by his respect for the accomplishments of Nikola Tesla. The types of large electrical equipment manufactured by Ideal are the modern expressions of technology in which Tesla was the most important pioneer.

Dr. Bernard Finn, Curator of the Electrical Collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, spoke of the era of independent inventors of which Tesla was one of the youngest and most important in the last half of the 19th Century. Dr. Finn described the emergence of corporate style "team" invention, which largely eroded the influence of the independents, including Tesla.

The statue of Nikola Tesla was unveiled. The sculptor, Mr. Matt Rebrovic, a lifelong admirer of Tesla, has depicted Tesla seated studying a book. The Serbian National Federation (SNF) accepted the gift of the three-foot statue and will display it in their Pittsburgh headquarters.

The International Tesla Society, Colorado Springs, donated a large number of Tesla mementos for sale for the benefit of the Chapter. Mr. Terbo and the TMS donated TMS produced video tapes of Belgrade, Montenegro and Michael Pup in plus BBC produced "Masters of the Ionosphere" video tapes for the Midland Public Library. Dr. Vujovic, TMS Director, and Mr. Milan Obradovich, TMS member, donated eight different posters suitable for framing for Chapter and SNF facilities.

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At 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, 1998, a reception was hosted by NYIT at the Wisser Library on the Old Westbury campus to receive a number of pictures, books and other material and memorabilia relating to the electrical genius, Nikola Tesla, in commemoration of a dormitory building on the campus being named in his honor.

The reception was attended by several members of the Croatian New Yorker Club, donors of the majority of the Tesla biographical material, the Tesla Memorial Society, and senior representatives of NYIT, including President, Dr. Matthew Schure.

The reception opened with a welcome by Mr. Michael DeLuise, NYIT Executive Director of College Relations. Remarks by President Schure described how, previously, NYIT dormitories were only numbered and the students, themselves, were given the opportunity to choose dormitory names. Having chosen Nikola Tesla for one unit, there was a great increase in interest throughout the entire University in the details of the life of this remarkable inventor and scientist. In accepting the gift of the Tesla material. President Schure acknowledged this response to a new need.

Mr. William Terbo, Honorary Chairman of the Tesla Memorial Society and grand nephew of Nikola Tesla, briefly recounted some elements of the character and accomplishment of this often overlooked giant of the modern technological age. Mr. John Kraljic of the Croatian New Yorker Club presented a framed portrait of Tesla and several biographies and books concerning Tesla's work. Mr. Terbo presented some additional memorabilia.

Mr. Anton Angelich, member of both the Club and the Society, and the principal organizer of the effort to collect the Tesla materials and to have provided special landscaping for the newly named Tesla Hall, unfortunately was called out of the country on business at the last minute and was unable to attend.

Refreshments were served and informal socializing continued.

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I've come to this seat of learning to speak a few words commemorating Nikola Tesla, son of a Serbian Orthodox priest, born more than 140 years ago in a small village in the rugged Military Frontier County of Lika in the Austro-Hungarian Province of Croatia. But who was this man, while educated in Europe, chose to come to America in 1884 at the age of 28? Speaking at a banquet in Tesla's honor some 80 years ago, a noted scientist characterized him this way:

"Were we to seize and eliminate from our industrial world the results of Mr. Tesla's work, the wheels of industry would cease to turn, our electric cars and trains would stop, our towns would be dark, our mills would be dead and idle." He continued, "so far reaching is his work that it has become the warp and woof of industry. His name marks an epoch in the advance of electrical science. From that work has sprung a revolution."

The light that shown so brightly in his lifetime dimmed with his passing in 1943, as a world, enmeshed in war, rebuilding and accelerating scientific progress, moved on to other interests. But our future is in many ways a reflection of our past. And homage is due those who have made our current life one of comparative ease and comfort.

We have just marked the 100th anniversary of the modern electrical age - an age that can be said to date from the moment that electricity created in one place was transported for efficient use in a far distant place. That event occurred on November 15, 1896, when Alternating Current power generated at Niagara Falls was delivered to Buffalo to power both lights and motors. The entire system was the creation of Nikola Tesla: the induction motor, the massive generators and the high tension delivery system. All were contained in an unprecedented group of Tesla's patents which, with the industrial might (and moxie) of George Westinghouse, ushered in this new age - displacing forever Direct Current as the standard for useful industrial power.

This burst of creative energy was not merely limited to the Tesla system of Alternating Current, it extended to the fundamental elements of practical radio transmission (including tuned circuits), the Tesla Coil, basic advances in Arc Lighting and many other inventions among his 700 patents.

But I don't want you to limit your recognition of Nikola Tesla only as a scientist and inventor. He was much more.

He was a man of art and letters who translated poetry from his homeland for the enjoyment of the people of his new land. He was the type of man who included Mark Twain among his closest friends.

And he was a philosopher who put into action his concept of progress for the betterment of mankind by shunning much of the material accumulation to which he had access for many years.

I take a certain family pride in speaking to you about Nikola Tesla. It is my great luck that one-quarter of my blood comes from the same source as his. My grandmother was his sister, Angelina, and as Tesla never married or had children, I and three of my cousins are all that is left of this direct blood line.

I'm always hopeful that some of his qualities and characteristics reside in me, qualities that I saw so prominently in my father, a famous inventor in his own right. (I hope your professors who teach gear design will be familiar with his name, Nicholas Trbojevich, inventor of the Hypoid gear among his 175 patents.)

The purpose of the Tesla Memorial Society is to honor and perpetuate the memory and ideals of Nikola Tesla.

To refresh our collective memory, the Society has just sponsored the publication of a 25 volume "Collection" of newspaper and periodical material by or about Tesla from 1886 through 1920. The 1,700 items, totaling nearly 5,000 pages, remind us of the "superstar" status Tesla enjoyed at that time, when his every new development had an immediate and tangible impact on the efficiency of industry and the relief of the worker.

It is also appropriate to remind us all that when we view the Sojourner Mars rover vehicle on television, that it was Nikola Tesla who invented radio controlled remote robots -and demonstrated a working model in May of 1898 in New York's old Madison Square Garden!

It is equally important to note that a considerable amount of Tesla's technology is still current, such as bladeless turbine development. His micropump (with no moving parts) now finds a new application in the medical art.

For the Society's aim in perpetuating Tesla's ideals, we try to encourage academic institutions to reacquaint themselves with the man to whom so much is owed. And to stimulate students to see this man in the present day's light - a man able not only to discover new concepts - but also able, as an Engineer, to bring these concepts into being.

This location, the New York Institute of Technology and the Wisser Library, is a fitting place to acknowledge his memory because Tesla always considered himself a student - always ready to learn. It would be his most useful gift if his life could become an exemplar for today's students to strive to be important contributors to tomorrow's society.

Thank you very much.

William H. Terbo
Tesla Memorial Society Inc.
21 Maddaket, Southwyck Village
Scotch Plains, NJ 07076 (732) 396-8852

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The Tesla Memorial Society, Inc., founded in 1979 and incorporated in 1980, is the oldest U.S. based international organization in continuous operation honoring and perpetuating the memory and ideals of the great electrical scientist and inventor, Nikola Tesla. The Society is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, all volunteer tax-exempt corporation operating under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.