Fire Ravages Tesla's Shoreham Lab

He was a renowned inventor responsible for many advancements of our electronic age, and his memory was being preserved through the creation of the Nikola Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, the location of his Shoreham laboratory. The grand plan to open his 16-acre facility to the masses received a tragic setback last week from a fire that damaged what was to become a global innovation center, educational facility, and museum.

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Like the troubled inventor who died penniless in New York City in 1943, Tesla devotees are undeterred by circumstance and vowed to rebuild what was lost and forge ahead with an effort made possible by more than $20 million in donations from around the world. They’re hoping for another outpouring of funds from those who appreciate the genius of Tesla and his scientific gifts to humanity.

The damaged structures of Tesla’s beloved Wardenclyffe will be assessed by Historical Architect Thaler Reilly Wilson to determine what will be needed to bring them back to life. The laboratory had equipment designed by the man who invented the alternating current (AC) motor and many other innovations that make modern society possible, advances that serve as the basis for a power grid system that allows for Wi-Fi, radio, remote controls, and robotics, according to Mark Grossman, spokesman for the science center. Fortunately, Grossman said, much of the brick structure of the original lab was undamaged by the blaze, which took over 100 firefighters from various local departments to extinguish.

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The Serbian engineer, who died at age 86, had made a vast fortune and invested it all in pursuing new ideas such as wireless electric power distribution, intercontinental communication, and x-ray devices. Residents marveled at a huge Eiffel Tower-like transmission structure built by Tesla at Wardenclyffe until it was taken down in 1917. He famously beat out Thomas Edison, a previous employer, with his AC system when the Wizard of Menlo Park was advocating a direct current approach. Tesla obtained more than 300 patents over his lifetime, including designs for components in the hydroelectric power plant at Niagara Falls and other generation facilities still in use around the world.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who named his popular electric car after the inventor, was a significant contributor to the Wardenclyffe project.