Talk:Nikola Tesla

From Wikiquote
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Nikola Tesla page.


=croatia=[edit]

I disagree with your assertion that "Croatia did not exist." It certainly did, and while it was in a confederation with Hungary since the 12th century, maintained its language, traditions, and identity. In addition, he was born in the Kingdom of Hungary which had recently become part of Austria Hungary. Let's be accurate. -- Bryan Dawson

Nikola Tesla never said that he is proud of his Croatian motherland and Serbian descent. He was always clearly saying that he is a Serb, and in time when he lived Croatia didn't exist. He was born in Austria-Hungary, in its province called the Millitary Borderland (in Serbian Vojna Krajina), where the majority of population were the Serbs. Croatia became a republic of Yugoslavia in 1945, and Tesla died in 1943. I shall delete that ridiculous communist lie from the article now.

It is quite evident that you have some sort of agenda. Communist lie? Just because you disagree with history does not mean you can delete it.

That is your opinion, which might be correct and might be wrong (most probably)! FYI - I could argue on both sides for many reasons, but the truth is that he was of Serbian nationality, and of Croatian domicile (altough it was, as many other today independent states, a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Lika was integral part of Croatia, who shared the rights to Hungarian crown... ...and the ages of Tesla's youth and growing were the ages in which the Croatian and pan-slavic ideas were the strongest... They resulted with State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in 1917, and later on with Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and Kingdom of Yougoslavia later on... Altough not precisely depicted, attributed qoute was dated in 1936, and is said to be an response to birthday telegrame of an Yougoslav politician from Croatia...

Full quote supossedly says: "As many as I'm proud of my Croatian homeland and Serbian origin, the way you politicians act in (Kingdom of) Yougoslavia I'll have nothing to return to..."

The quote originates from this fake interview: http://web.archive.org/web/20150601210853/http://aetherforce.com/teslas-mot-censored-interview/ Mvolz (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

mathematician?[edit]

I have read Nikola Tesla's biography and have heard nothing of him being a mathematician (which he is currently categorized as). I'll remove that classification unless someone can prove that he was a mathematician.

The Man Who Patented the 20th Century

The Nikola Tesla Inventor's Club is a non-profit organization of American and Serbian-American inventors who works on promoting the life, legacy and work of Nikola Tesla. Among Tesla's many inventions, he had plans for unlimited energy and was well ahead of his time. If Tesla were around today, the severity of our energy crisis would likely make people listen to his ideas. In the same way that our oceans are abundant in gold, the air contains enough energy to make electricity the type of common resource that air, water and sunlight are. Tesla's biggest obstacle in creating this vision was that no investor was willing to finance a project which wouldn't return profits. At our meetings, we discuss issues like the one briefly addressed above and we share our knowledge of Tesla, physics, energy, electricity and

Our meetings are held once per month at the Free Library of Philadelphia's main branch. look at www.ntesla.meetup.com/38/ for more information about our meetings. In addition to our meetings, we also organize monthly social functions, watch movies about or involving Nikola Tesla and share our common interests. We are always looking to include more Tesla enthusiasts, inventors and those curious about the life of one of history's biggest mysteries. At www.ntesla.mettup.com/38/ you are able to suggest topics. We also are always looking for people with expertise in a certain field to give presentations. If you are a fan of Tesla, come out to a meeting. If you know someone who likes reading about Tesla's work, let them know about our group. Also, check out our website at www.nikolateslainventorsclub.com

Sincerely,

Nick Lonchar

suspect quotes[edit]

I removed the following quotes from this page because I suspect them to be hoaxes. If they are legitimate, please provide better sources or at least some context.

This one was in "Sourced". I can imagine Tesla saying it, but the citation is suspicious. The fact that it was submitted anonymously makes me more suspicious.

  • (To his Secretary) Miss! Never trust a Jew!
    • Ibid., p. 165
      • The antecedent for this "ibid" was not obvious. The quote followed a quote from the address at the belgrade station, which i seriously doubt was 165 pages long. If it really did come from a book, please specify.

The other two were in "About". They simply seem like jokes to me.

  • ZAPP!!!!!
    • Tesla, upon being zapped.
  • Billiards is the Man

If you provided these quotes, and they are legitimate, please accept my apologies. --Ubiquity 14:20, 8 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oops. I found the source for the antisemitic quote. And it was on p.165 as advertised. But the original contributor must have blindly copied it from someplace else, because the title of the book did not otherwise appear in the WQ article. Anyway, I restored the quote to the article. --Ubiquity 14:37, 8 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power. My Mother had taught me to seek all truth in the Bible; therefore I devoted the next few months to the study of this work." is not in the document that is claimed as source, should it be deleted? 109.92.12.93 16:58, 6 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It appears as presented in a 2007 edition of the work: My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, p. 41

Wrong! Check out the original text of Tesla's autobiography as published in the Electrical Experimenter in 1919 or have a look here. The above version is heavily modified by Arthur Matthews, who published it in his book "Wall of Light"


trippy images[edit]

What’s with the weird and trippy images? I seriously doubt that they are somehow related to Tesla. I a also suspect Tesla’s got enough wacko nut job fan boys as it is, without attracting more with these psychedelic outweirding things. --193.11.177.69 03:03, 13 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced[edit]

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to Nikola Tesla. --Antiquary 19:55, 18 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

  • “The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence.”
  • I'm seeing this everywhere but no source, if anybody wants to pick up the chase: "Antisocial behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists" ~ Nikola Tesla
The earliest I can trace it to is this image on Facebook posted in December 2013. Before that there are no pages indexed by Google that contain the quote. This website contains pretty much all of Tesla's published works in plain text and searchable; and of course there's no trace of anything like the quote in them. As always hard to prove a negative, but I'm fairly confident this is fake. Mvolz (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • The working [of the Extra Coil] was excellent with 1/4 wavelength.
  • I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success ... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.
"1. Cleveland Moffitt, A Talk with Tesla, THE ATLANTA CONST., June 7, 1896, at C31, available at https://secure.pqarchiver.com/ajc_historic/doc/495349104.html?FMT=AI&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+7%2C+1896&author=Moffitt%2C+Cleveland&pub=The+Atlanta+Constitution+(1881-1945)&desc=A+TALK+WITH+TESLA (quoting Nikola Tesla)."
The link to pqarchiver.com allows one to purchase the newspaper article. [cleaned up: --Hughh (talk) 18:01, 12 July 2017 (UTC)][reply]
I found numerous web pages where this quote is cited as being from Moffitt's 1896 interview in the Atlanta Constitution. Isn't this good enough to move the quote to the Main page, even though the original article is not readily available? --Hughh (talk) 18:01, 12 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]
  • Science is but a perversion of itself unless it has as its ultimate goal the betterment of humanity.
  • The last 29 days of the month are the hardest.
  • "I don't care that they stole my idea. I care that they don't have any of their own"

Link for one of the sourced quotes[edit]

I'm new, and don't yet feel comfortable editing, but I found what I believe is a scanned image of one of the sources given for the "Let the future tell the truth ..." quote in the April 27, 1927 issue of Politika:

Page 1 Page 2

It's in Serbian, and I don't speak it, so I can't actually attest to its accuracy. If anyone wants to check it out, maybe it can be added to the list of sources?

Neewom 00:52, 8 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Re post that sources ill be glad to translate them for you.

What about this quote?[edit]

What about this quote that can be found for example as a wall quote on Amazon? Does anyone know whether this is an actual quote from Tesla or not?

  • If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.

Kri (talk) 23:26, 15 October 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm with you on suspecting this quote, which I am seeing all over. People well-versed in science will know that E=hv relates energy to frequency, so to them, this sounds silly rather than profound or interesting.Fcp (talk) 20:56, 8 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Has anybody managed to find a source for this quote? It has been quoted hundreds of times in all kinds of spiritual texts, but I've never seen it published in any primary source or in any contemporary record. --Salimfadhley (talk) 06:08, 3 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Tesla might have said it to Ralph Bergstresser in 1942:
Ralph's experience with the maharaja's son led him to: "... a conversation with the famous scientist, Dr. Nikola Tesla, in 1942. Tesla said, 'If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.' I spent the last 50 years doing just that, and my products are a direct result of this investigation." Ralph Bergstresser.
See footnote here. ~ DanielTom (talk) 13:36, 3 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that seems to be correct. Bergstresser was the "inventor" of the The Tesla Purple Plate who claims to have head this from Tesla in 1942, however I have not yet found ay contemporary accounts of this quotation, or at least nothing that I can prove is conteporary. According to this somewhat promotional article the Purple Plate owes more to do with Wilhelm Reich's Orgone theory than anything any of Tesla's ideas: [1]
Quotes attributed to people hawking products or books, people who claim to have received special knowledge first hand from Nikola Tesla, like Bergstresser selling his Purple Plates or Arthur Henry Matthews selling his book on Tesla the Venusian, can probably be discounted. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 22:13, 4 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I added this to the "Disputed" section. I think it's worth preserving becuause this (mis)quote seems to be so widely used in pseudoscience. --Salimfadhley (talk) 16:46, 5 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It is evident that Ralph knew Nikola, but is there any evidence that Nikola knew Ralph? I say this because in the Tesla museum in Beograd you can get an inventory of letters by and to Tesla. Tesla wrote with literally hundreds of people, yet there is no letter from or to Ralph Bergstresser. Also, Tesla never used the term "Secrets of the Universe" in any of his texts, he speaks about "secrets of Nature". Having read all of Tesla's writings (that I could get) I would also argue that saying "If you want to find the secrets of the Universe..." is extremely un-Tesla. Saying that implies that you know all the secrets of the universe but do not want to share them directly. Instead, you are giving a hint. Then, for someone who has been working with resonance for so many years, it is very odd to distinguish between frequency and vibration, as it is impossible to think about one without at the same time thinking about the other. One final note, Ralph was into a lot of metaphysical stuff. Tesla was not, as you can read in his autobiography.

And one more thing: The Ralph story mentions that Ralph frequently met Tesla in his laboratory after they first met in 1940. Tesla didn't have a lab during his last years.

Fake God & Bible quote[edit]

Hi, I am totally new here, so I am sorry for breaking any rules. I just wanted to point out that the quote:

"The gift of mental power comes from God, Divine Being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power..."

and what follows on the Bible, simply isn't there on any mainstream edition of "My Inventions".

Just because some edgy editorial may have inserted it once doesn't make it true. The quote has no relation whatsoever with the previous and following sentences it was inserted into.

Please consider removing it.

Y Done Paradoctor (talk) 02:48, 25 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

No free energy...[edit]

  • "No free energy device will ever be allowed to reach the market." ~ Nikola Tesla

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=No+free+energy+device+will+ever+be+allowed+to+reach+the+market.+Nikola+Tesla&iar=images

This seems to be a common image meme and it either needs to be verified or misattributed and added. ~ JasonCarswell (talk) 13:24, 30 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]