Portrait of Nikola Tesla

Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe
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Friends of Science East Newsletter

Pursuing the Dream

Volume I, No. 2 (Fall 1998)


Table of Contents

Dr. Quark Clowns Around With Physics
A History of Tesla's Laboratory
The Environmental Question
Nikola Tesla—Discoverer
American Physical Society Celebrates Centennial
President's Message


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Dr. Quark Clowns Around With Physics

By Betty Coveney

Dr. Quinton Quark in action

Dr. Quinton Quark sends flames across the stage in his energetic performance for fans of science. (Photo by Anne Westover)

Friends of Science East is proud to report Dr. Quinton Quark's "Much Work with Little Effort" a resounding hit with the audience. The Saturday, October 3rd performance of Dr. Quark (AKA Ted Lawrence, a former physics teacher and Ringling Brothers clown) contained numerous demonstrations and unique props to teach the basic principles of motion and energy in an exciting, humorous manner.

Dr. Quark enlisted audience participation in circus-sized simple machines such as a 10 foot lever in which one child was able to lift 13 friends, and a 7 to 1 pulley system enabling FSE's own mild mannered secretary, Chris Wesselborg, to lift over 350 pounds. The show contained several surprises, especially the finale in which Dr. Quark himself did a backwards somersault over the head of a life-sized cut out of 7'1" Shaquille O'Neal. Those who enjoyed the show found that they had a blast while learning science. FSE was happy to sponsor this worthwhile event.

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A History of Tesla's Laboratory

By Gene Genova

Nikola Tesla utilized his extensive scientific background and creative imagination to invent or lay the ground work for a variety of today's present technologies. His work is credited as the inspiration for radio, robotics, radar, lasers and even the "Star Wars" defense strategy. Tesla's list of patents was the basis for things such as the Niagara Falls hydroelectric power project, and the automobile speedometer and tachometer. He invented AC electric current, fluorescent and neon lighting, wireless telegraphy, radio tubes, and improved turbine engines to name a few. After emigrating to the United States in 1884, Tesla worked on all of his major projects at various laboratory sites. These included Pittsburgh, PA, New York City, NY, Orange, NJ, Colorado Springs, CO and Shoreham, NY. Unfortunately, there is but one of these laboratory sites left as a testament to the genius of Nikola Tesla. That site is the Shoreham, Long Island location.

Tesla purchased 200 acres on Long Island's north shore in 1901 from James Warden. These 200 acres were part of an 1,800 acre potato farm along what is today Route 25A. The site became known as Wardenclyffe after the owner. In April, 1901, the Wardenclyffe Post Offce was established in the town; in l906 it became the Village of Shoreham.

The purpose of the laboratory was the establishment of a wireless telegraphy plant. Tesla's plan had the initial backing of the famous financier J.P. Morgan. The laboratory and transmitter were to be first used for reporting yacht races, communication with ocean steamers and sending messages in Morse code to England. The total 1,800 tract was originally envisioned not only as a laboratory, but a small city, having homes, stores and buildings to house more than 2,500 workers. The prestigious architectural firm of McKin, Mead and White was contracted to design the laboratory and transmitter.

Stanford White is well known on Long Island for having designed many homes of distinction. He became the architect for the building. Tesla's facility had a tower 187 feet high above ground and a well beneath the tower below ground level 120 feet deep. The red brick laboratory building can be seen on the north side of Route 25A between the intersection of Randall Road and the Shoreham Fire Department.

During the last week of July 1903, residents around the Shoreham site experienced what was to be the only testing of Tesla's equipment at this facility. A thunder-like noise was heard throughout the area. Light displays were seen emanating from the tower on several nights. These were seen as far away as the south shore of Connecticut.

As creative as Nikola Tesla was, he did not master the importance of remaining financially solvent. Several days after these tests, his dream was destroyed when creditors from Westinghouse confiscated his heavier equipment for nonpayment for services rendered. In addition, James Warden sued Tesla for nonpayment of back taxes.

Shoreham residents were rocked once more by a groundshaking event from the Tesla site. The 187-foot tower was destroyed by dynamite explosion as ordered by the U.S. government. It was demolished in 1917 by the Smiley Steel Company as members of the Associated Press and the military supposedly watched the event. Some say the government suspected that the tower was used by German spies to send military messages. Others say the tower was destroyed to be sold for scrap to pay Tesla's bills.

In 1939 the Peerless Photo Company purchased the property to manufacture emulsions for photographic film and paper. Additional buildings were constructed. In 1969 it became Agfa-Gevaert, Inc., a division of the Bayer Corporation. In 1987 manufacturing ended and the facility was closed down. Since then the entire facility has remained dormant. Of interest is the fact that the laboratory building was the first to be listed on the Town of Brookhaven registry of historic sites in 1967.

Members of Friends of Science East, Inc. were inspired by the work of Nikola Tesla to set a goal of acquiring at least a part of this historic site with Tesla's laboratory, to preserve it and transform the property into a new regional science center.

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The Environmental Question

By Carol Davis-Wiebelt

Almost the first questions any one asks when we talk of our dream of creating a regional science center at Nikola Tesla's former laboratory in Shoreham, New York is, "Isn't there contamination on the site?" And "Isn't that place on the federal Super Fund list?" This is usually followed quickly by, "Who is going to clean up the property, and when?"

The answers to the first two questions are: Yes, there is contamination on the site. However, it is not on the federal Super Fund list. The site is under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) which has listed the property as a Class 2 Inactivc Hazardous Waste Site based on studies completed to date. "This classification is given to sites that may pose a significant, but not immediate, threat to public health or the environment," according to the NYSDEC Fact Sheet on this property.

"The site contains l9 areas of potential concern where hazardous materials are known to have been handled or may exist," according to the Fact Sheet which summarizes investigations that took place between 1988 and late 1993. The contamination consists primarily of metals, including cadmium, which was used in photo processing activities, and phenol, a substance used in the making of epoxy resins and as a disinfectant. These metals were found in both soil and groundwater samples. In addition, petroleum-related compounds were found in the soils beneath three underground storage tanks.

The present owner, the Agfa Division of Bayer Corporation, has committed its resources to cleaning up the contamination left by itself and its predecessors following years of photo processing activities at the site.

Conversations held between FSE Board members and Agfa representatives over the past two years have confirmed this commitment.

But what is happening now? Agfa has submitted a Draft Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) to the NYSDEC. The RI included results of additional site investigation requested by the NYSDEC. The FS contains an evaluation of clean-up methods for any part of the site that may pose a potential risk. It has been undergoing an extensive review by state and federal agencies. As of our last conversation with Agfa representatives, we were informed that NYSDEC has asked for additional information. Agfa will carry out the investigations and submit the material in the near future. It is speculated that the draft RI/FS will be available for public comment sometime in the next few months. We will report on the draft RI/FS in the next issue of "Pursuing the Dream" if it has been made public.

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Nikola Tesla—Discoverer

By Gary Peterson
Tesla Wardenclyffe Project

Radio, AC power and fluorescent lighting, these familiar components of everyday life all came from a prolific inventor named Nikola Tesla. His original designs truly changed the world and made the tremendous productivity of American industry possible. In fact, Tesla's entire adult life was dedicated to the task of designing and improving devices for, as he put it, "the service of mankind."

The AC power system was an early development. Tesla knew that alternating current provided the key to efficient distribution and in 1882 he designed the induction motor, removing a major obstacle that lay in the path to AC's large scale use. By 1892 Tesla had been issued over 40 patents founded upon his rotating magnetic field principal, covering what is known as the Polyphase Power System. Tesla's three phase AC power system is used to generate and transmit essentially all of our electric power. To this very day, virtually every single induction motor in use around the world is based upon one of Tesla's original designs. And this is only one contribution this seldom recognized inventor gave to us.

It is just now beginning to become general knowledge that he also discovered all of the basic circuits required for the transmission and reception of wireless communications—what we call radio and broadcast television. That Tesla is the true inventor of radio was acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1943 when he was posthumously granted full priority regarding the fundamental radio patents.

Tesla's pioneering work in wireless communications also led to ground-breaking developments in the area of remote control and robotics. It is the ability to control mechanisms without wires that has made our unmanned space program possible. The AND gate logic circuit, a basic building block of all digital computers, also came into being as part of this effort.

Imagine what it would be like if no AC power came into our homes, and there were no radio or television. It becomes clear that we have Nikola Tesla to thank for much of what is now taken for granted.

(In part two of this article TWP's Gary Peterson will write about some of Tesla's lesser known inventions such as the bladeless disk turbine.)

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American Physical Society Celebrates Centennial

By Christopher Wesselborg

Want to meet a physicist? If you happen to live on the eastern part of Long Island chances are that you run into one who works at the local national laboratory during any one of your usual shopping trips. But if your travel plans take you to Atlanta, GA, during the week of March 20-26, be prepared for a spectacle without equal when the American Physical Society (APS) celebrates its 100th birthday. Founded in 1899 to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics, the APS today is a nonprofit scientific and educational society representing more than 40,000 national and international scientists and provides services to the community ranging from outreach in science education to international and public affairs. On Long Island, the APS Editorial Office in Ridge, NY, publishes over 20,000 scholarly physics articles per year.

According to APS sources, the Centennial Meeting is expected to attract several thousand physicists as the two regular annual APS physics conventions are combined into a single weeklong festival of physics, to become the biggest physics event ever.

Whether you are among those visiting the hardcore physics convention program or whether you are interested in more popular aspects, e.g., the physics of dance, the origin of colors of a rainbow, or how athletes use physics in sports, during the third and fourth week of March, Atlanta will provide ample opportunity to indulge in the world of physics. Stroll through the numerous exhibits at the Georgia World Congress Center and around the city or drop in at any of several galleries showcasing the visual arts of science, and reminisce on how one hundred years of physics have not only produced fascinating science but also changed our daily lives. Or, if you prefer outdoor activities, watch for announcements of physics demonstrations by science education outreach groups in various places such as Centennial park. Interested web surfers will find information at www.aps.org/centennial. See you in Atlanta!

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President's Message

By Carol Davis-Wiebelt

Why is it important to become a member or renew your membership in Friends of Science East, Inc.? A few reasons. We are a not-for-profit organization that depends on your support for our general activities. We have received some grants, but these are usually restricted to a certain activity and cannot be used for general purpose activities. We also need members because there is strength in numbers. When we approach a potential funding source they often want to know how many members we have as a gauge of grass roots importance. Your membership support helps us prove that developing a regional science center at Wardenclyffe and enhancing science education is important to many people. There are many more reasons. You know what they are. Please join us in the work ahead.

Thank you.

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