New York American
July 11, 1935
Tesla's Controlled Earthquake
Power Through Earth A Startling Discovery
Nikola Tesla, father of radio and of the modern method of electric power
transmission, observed his 79th birthday yesterday by drinking a quart of boiled
milk and outlining the latest of his many startling discoveries.
While reporters ate turkey at a birthday luncheon given in his honor at the
Hotel New Yorker Tesla described what he called his "greatest achievement
in the field of engineering."
This is an apparatus by which energy can be transmitted through the ground to
any part of the earth, with practical possibilities in the navigation of ships,
discovery of ore deposits and determination of the physical properties of the
earth's interior.
Cosmic Ray Studies
He announced also the successful passage of an induction current with a varying flux through a circuit without the use of a commutator - a feat believed impossible since the days of Faraday. And he revealed studies of the cosmic ray which, he said, exposed many of the major tenets of the theory of relativity as fallacious.
The eminent Jugoslavian physicist, who was laughed at when he announced. '90's,
talked to the reporters for more than three hours.
His experiments in transmitting mechanical vibrations through the earth -called
by him the art of telegeodynamics - were roughly described by the scientist as a
sort of "controlled earthquake."
The rhythmical vibrations pass through the earth with almost no loss of energy,
he said, and predicted the system in time will be universally adopted, since it
furnishes an "unfailing means of communication.. He asserted:
"It becomes possible to convey mechanical effects to the greatest
terrestrial distances and produce all kinds of unique effects of inestimable
value to science, industry and the arts."
The invention could be used with destructive effect in war, he said, by
exploding bombs thousands of miles away which had been equipped with apparatus
to receive the vibrations.
"Incredible as it seems, I am able not only to produce current of one
direction in a circuit by induction without a commutator, but also I can make
this current almost as steady and continuous as that from a battery. I can
obtain any tension I desire within reasonable limits by merely employing a
greater number of turns in the circuit."
He expressed the hope the invention could be applied as electric drive in
automobiles and trucks.
Dr. Tesla dealt harshly with the relativity theory, calling it "A mass of
error and deceptive ideas wrapped in a magnificent mathematical cloak.- He
declared:
"Its exponents are very brilliant metaphysicists rather than exponents of
positive science. Not a single one of the propositions of relativity have been
proved.