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March 10, 2010Nikola Tesla inducted into Long Island Technology Hall of Fame. On Wednesday, March 10, 2010, Nikola Tesla was inducted into the Long Island Technology Hall of Fame. The award was given on his behalf to his next-of-kin, great-nephew William Terbo, who spoke of his famous ancestor’s impact on the world. Terbo was introduced by Jane Alcorn, president of Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, who noted the familial trend in engineering and technology: Tesla was an electrical engineer; his nephew, Terbo’s father, was an engineer; and Terbo is a mechanical engineer. Also on hand at the gala celebration at the Garden City Hotel were TSC board members David Madigan and Christopher Wesselborg. Other inductees were Leo A. Guthart, Dr. Boris Metlitsky, Dr. Nicholas P. Samios and entrepreneur ReiJane Huai, as well as nine Young Hall of Famers. (For more information, see www.techisland.org; the 2010 inductees are available here.) October 1, 2009
TSC President Jane Alcorn explains Tesla's visions for the Wardenclyffe plant. (Photo: Bob Alcorn) TSC Board member Dave Madigan explained Agfa's sales offer and how both the current zoning (residential, two acres) and the environmental easements on parts of the property affect what a potential buyer can do with the property. Answering questions from the audience, Dave commented on the strong support from elected officials to acquire the property for public use and reported that, according to recent press releases, they have approached Agfa requesting to be considered as a buyer.
TSC Secretary Chris Wesselborg giving a virtual tour of the Tesla site and laboratory. (Photo: Bob Alcorn) During conversations after the presentation, TSC Board members learned of other ongoing activities, such as a recent update at the Shoreham Village website, which has an interactive map of Shoreham Village in 1917. The map is part of the website's village history page with many links to interesting local images. The TSC Board thanks the Wading River Historical Society for the opportunity to speak about the status of the Tesla site. This presentation was supported in part by a grant from Suffolk County. August 17, 2009Legislators announce plans to acquire Tesla site. Two recent press releases, one from Suffolk County Legislator Daniel Losquadro and the other from New York State Assemblyman Marc Alessi (text see below), announced plans for the acquisition of the property that contains the Nikola Tesla laboratory. According to a North Shore Sun, Friday, August 14, 2009 article, Agfa Corporation, the owner, has been in contact with several potential buyers, at least one of whom expressed an interest in preserving the Tesla lab. As the article indicates, none of the previous offers has led to a final deal, and Agfa remains a willing seller and is able to enter into further negotiations. Furthermore, one may expect the two plans to converge towards a single offer to purchase the property and thus preserve the Tesla laboratory for the public. "Hopefully this will be the year that we preserve the property as a memorial to Tesla's research once and for all," said Alessi. According to Losquadro, Suffolk County will begin appraisals of the property immediately. He "is hopeful we will be able to reach an agreement quickly". Full text of press release from New York State Assemblyman Marc Alessi on Nikola Tesla Property: In an important step in the fight to preserve the historic Tesla property, Assemblyman Marc Alessi, Supervisor Mark Lesko, and Senator Kenneth LaValle have begun talks with the AGFA Corporation that may result in New York State and the Town of Brookhaven acquiring the Tesla Property. In a letter to AGFA, Alessi wrote that it is his understanding that funding to purchase the site is available, and he hopes that an agreement resulting in a contract will be reached. "As the only remaining Tesla lab in the world, this property is an important cultural and historic site. We are lucky to have this treasure right here in our community," Alessi said. "We need to ensure that it is protected so that future generations can continue to enjoy this landmark." Alessi wrote that if an agreement is not reached, the Town of Brookhaven is willing to pursue acquiring the land through condemnation and public sale. "It is my hope that AGFA will see the benefit in dedicating this property to public use," Alessi said. "Hopefully this will be the year that we preserve the property as a memorial to Tesla's research once and for all." July 11, 2009
TSC outreach table at the Nikola Tesla Celebrations in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo: Tesla Science Center) In the evening, TSC President Jane Alcorn and Secretary Chris Wesselborg spoke at the Inventors Club convention, which was hosted at the home of the Ethics Society. Before an audience of about 50 people they gave a brief history of Tesla's Wardenclyffe laboratory and reported on the current status of the property. Judging by the audience reaction, the poster boards gave an impressive view of the site. And the newly created slideshow with pictures recently taken on the property and inside the former laboratory building helped create an historical perspective of the site as well as provide a context with present and future opportunities. (A pdf copy of the presentation is available here; file size: 4.4 MB.) June 2, 2009TSC gives status update at the Rocky Point Rotary Club. As part of TSC's ongoing outreach efforts, TSC President Jane Alcorn and Secretary Chris Wesselborg spoke at a recent meeting of the Rocky Point Rotary Club about TSC's vision for the Tesla site. The attending Rotarians were eager to hear about the status of the project and expressed interest in the goal of a Tesla museum and public space at the site. May 30, 2009
Video by Ron Haugen, courtesy of www.YouTube.com. The rally was organized by the TSC Board of Directors as part of the "This Place Matters" campaign of the National Trust for Historic Preservation dedicated to saving America's historic places and cultural heritage. Tesla's laboratory had been designed by Stanford White in the Italianate style. The community members were joined by elected officials from all levels of government all of whom emphasized their strong support for preserving the building and seeking ways to make it available to the public. Along with the government officials, the presidents of the local civic organizations and the SWR Superindent of Schools spoke eloquently of the historical significance of this place and painted a vivid picture of its future value and potential for the local communities.
For more information, please read Alison Snyder's article in the North Shore Sun or Margaret Foster's article in the Preservation magazine. 
Photo by Harvey Yau 
TSC President Jane Alcorn introduces the speakers at the rally. (Photo: Margaret Foster) 
Elected Officials and community leaders gather to express support for Tesla site preservation. April 18, 2009Tesla's Wardenclyffe site project explained at LI Radio and TV Day. TSC Board members brought their appeal for support to acquire the Wardenclyffe property to the Third Annual Long Island Radio and TV Day held at the Tilles Center of CW Post Long Island University. They shared information about the status of the site and the goals of the group with radio fans and Tesla fans from the New York metropolitan area, including reporters from News 12, Channel 55, and 1010 WINS. TSC presented a slide show of rare pictures taken at the Tesla site and inside the laboratory building. Among other highlights, the attending Board members enjoyed a taped powerpoint presentation by Marc Seiffer, author of "Wizard", and two performing sound artists who entertained the visitors with compositions for the Theremin electronic instrument and for an array of tuned water glasses. February 25, 2009Tesla Science Center Board visits Wardenclyffe site. With the Wardenclyffe site now up for sale, members of the Board of Directors of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe recently had an exciting opportunity to visit and explore in the 100+ year-old laboratory of Nikola Tesla in Shoreham, NY. On the afternoon of February 25, 2009 Board members, led by the agent handling the property for Agfa Corporation, and joined by representatives of Legislator Dan Losquadro and Assemblyman Marc Alessi, representatives of the New York State Department of Parks and Historic Preservation, and the president of the Shoreham Civic Organization, were taken throughout the old building and were able to see the condition of the structure, and many of its original parts.
Armed with paper, pencils, maps, floorplans and cameras, the Board recorded the visit and identified many of the interior and exterior locations from the original structure. Board members also did some measuring of the building and its relationship to the tower base. The Board hopes to be able to revisit the site again in the near future to do some additional data collection and to take additional photographs of the add-on structures as well as the original Tesla building. February 3, 2009County legislature passes resolution on Wardenclyffe. The full county legislature passed internal resolution IR 2238-08 on a vote of 12 to 6. It authorizes the county to begin planning for the acquisition of the Tesla laboratory site at Wardenclyffe, which is currently owned by the Agfa Corporation. A week earlier, the resolution had passed the legislature's Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee. At that meeting, TSC representatives had spoken in support of the resolution. January 26, 2009TSC Board members speak before County Committee. Representatives from the Tesla Science Center spoke before the Suffolk County Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee in support of a resolution introduced by legislator Daniel Losquadro. IR 2238-08, as it is officially called, would allow the county legislature to begin planning steps for the acquisition of the site of Nikola Tesla's last remaining laboratory. TSC Secretary Chris Wesselborg emphasized the historical significance of the building and that it is an integral part of Long Island's rich science and technology history. TSC Board member Rich Gearns underscored the educational opportunities of a regional science museum in the vicinity of premier science institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University. IR 2238-08 passed before the committee. In a press release, Daniel Losquadro expressed the expectation that, with the county taking the proper planning steps to purchase the property, the opportunity for partnerships would expand. He continued, "I am very excited about this opportunity to partner with the Tesla Science Center as well as exploring private partnerships that want to preserve scientist Nikola Tesla's groundbreaking achievements into wireless technology and energy." January 21, 2009TSC representatives speak at Shoreham Civic Meeting. Representatives from the Tesla Science Center (formerly known as Friends of Science East) met with the Shoreham Civic Organization at their monthly meeting to give an update on the status of the proposed Tesla Museum at Wardenclyffe. TSC President Jane Alcorn, assisted by Vice-president Gene Genova and Secretary Chris Wesselborg, explained the future goals of TSC in establishing the Tesla Museum in Shoreham, New York. Legislator Daniel Losquadro was in attendance expressing his support for the project, and outlined the role that the Suffolk County Legislature could play in acquiring the site. TSC's presentation included a description of the Shoreham site using large photographs and diagrams showing the actual buildings and Tesla's laboratory. Members of the civic association found the discussions very informative and asked numerous questions. Jane Alcorn explained that the cleanup of the contaminated site has been completed, and outlined the current understanding of how the Agfa Corporation might consider a disposition of the property. On behalf of the Shoreham Civic Organization, president Kevin Ward expressed their support for the establishment of the Tesla Museum. After the regular meeting, additional discussions continued with individual community residents as to how they could support this endeavor. Fall 2008FSE becomes TSC. New York State has approved the application by Friends of Science East, Inc. for doing business as ("DBA") the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, or TSC for short. The name change reflects the consistent focus of this organization, to establish a science and technology center and museum on the site of Nikola Tesla's former Wardenclyffe laboratory in Shoreham, NY. Spring/Summer 2008Wardenclyffe featured on History Channel. The History Channel's Modern Marvels: Mad Electricity episode features Tesla's life and inventions, from the 1893 Niagara Falls alternating-current power plant to his Wardenclyffe laboratory a decade later. Shot on original locations, the viewer gets a rare close-up view of Tesla's only remaining laboratory, in Shoreham, NY. (The show has aired multiple times since its first broadcast in May, 2008. See Modern Marvels: Mad Electricity for the program schedule.) December 2007
December 2007FSE/TSC website undergoing renovation. Built almost ten years ago, the website has maintained its clean, consistent appearance throughout various adaptations and migrations. In the meantime, information technology has improved considerably, and we are taking advantage of the new possibilities. We are currently renovating our website, with the goal of migrating it step by step towards a new release under the award-winning Joomla! content management system. Although we expect to keep the successful elements and part of the overall appearance, we will add more features over time and reorganize some of the content. We apologize for any inconvenience during the transition. October 2007FSE/TSC expands web presence. Since 2004, FSE has owned the domain name teslasciencecenter.org. Although both the name and its character ('.org') perfectly match our purpose and mission as a not-for-profit organization, we feel the time has come to register also the two sister domains, teslasciencecenter.com and teslasciencecenter.net. We hope that the additional names will make it even easier for you to find us on the web, and to establish our mission even more firmly on the web. October 2007FSE to become TSC. Friends of Science East, Inc. will be doing business as (DBA) Tesla Science Center (pending the approval of the application by NY State). TSC, for short, will reflect more appropriately the long-standing mission of FSE, to establish a science center and museum at the site of Nikola Tesla's former laboratory at Wardenclyffe (now Shoreham, NY). In fact FSE already anticipated that development when it registered its website, in March 2004, under the domain name teslasciencecenter.org. May 2007Cleanup at Tesla Lab reaches milestone. The cleanup at the site of Tesla's former laboratory, the Agfa-Peerless Photo Products site in Shoreham, reached a milestone recently when all the physical removal of contaminated material was completed, and final testing was performed. (Full article.) Spring 2007Cleanup work at Tesla Lab winding down. The flurry of activity heard at the AGFA "Peerless" site in Shoreham has quieted now, as the work to clean up hazardous waste there has been winding down. Most of the cleanup has been completed, and AGFA now has to verify its cleanup and prepare its reports to be presented to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the DEC's approval. (Full article.) January 2007Cleanup at Tesla Lab nearing completion. The cleanup is nearing completion, as remediation reports identify one area of residual contamination. (Full article.) 6–8 October 2006Tesla conference held on Long Island. The first Nikola Tesla Museum and Science Center International Conference was held in Farmingville (Long Island), New York. (More information, trailer video.) 9–10 September 2006Photos from Tesla archive on display. FSE displays photos from the Tesla archive and information on the Wardenclyffe site at the Brookhaven Town County Fair at the Longwood Estate. (More information.) February 2006Cleanup at Tesla Lab continues. The cleanup at the site of Tesla's former laboratory continues. (Full article.) September 2005Cleanup at Tesla Lab to begin. The cleanup at the site of Tesla's former laboratory is scheduled to begin soon and will continue for about three to four months. (Full article.) 10 March 2004NY State DEC holds public hearing. The NY State DEC holds a public hearing on the Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PRAP). (Location: Middle School Auditorium, 100 Randall Road, Shoreham, New York; time: 7 pm. Full article.) March 2004FSE website moves to new domain. FSE has registered the domain name www.teslasciencecenter.org for their permanent website. In view of the recent events regarding the Agfa property, we are focusing on making the website available while parts of it are still under construction. We welcome feedback via the "E-mail" links on our pages. February 2004NY State DEC releases cleanup plan to public. The NY State DEC has accepted and released a Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PRAP) for the Peerless Photo Site for public comment. The comment period is February 26 — March 27, 2004; a public hearing has been set for Wednesday, March 10, 2004 at the Alfred G. Prodell Middle School Auditorium, 100 Randall Road, Shoreham, New York. Further information is available via the Shoreham Civic Organization or directly here. Winter 2003/2004Agfa finalizes remediation plan. Agfa has finalized a draft remediation plan for their site and is in the process of submitting it to the NY State DEC. Spring 2003Drilling, water sampling near Tesla site. As part of the assessment of possible cleanup options, Agfa uses a water flow model to simulate the potential for leaching of contaminants from their property into the water table. Several wells are being drilled in the neighboring residential areas, to take water samples and/or to install permanent wells to monitor the water quality.
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Of particular interest was the fact that all of the four outside
walls of the original building seem to be intact, and many of the
windows that were bricked up were removed and are safely stored in
the attic, awaiting restoration and replacement in their original
locations.
of their archive.