After his great discovery – the rotating magnetic field (1882) and patents in the area of poly-phase currents, Nikola Tesla directed his research to another area.

Namely, he wanted to accomplish transport of electric current without losses, which imminently and dominantly appear due to the existence of resistance in conductors.  He even publicly declared his intention.  During the opening of the hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls, he declared:

“Progress in this field gives me hope that I would await the realization of my greatest dream; namely, transport of power from station to station without the use of any kind of wire.”

He initially started his research in this field in the laboratory on the 5th Avenue, but this laboratory was destroyed in fire in 1895.  The loss for Tesla was enormous.  Beside the loss of important scriptures, all the instruments, equipment and tools Tesla used in his research disappeared in the blaze.  A loss like this would probably mentally break certain researchers, but since Tesla was a special kind of person, it did not happen to him. 

He held all his equipment, coils, transformers, connection schemes in his head, so that in his new laboratory on Houston Street in New York, he started a reconstruction of all things destroyed out of his head.  There, using his high-frequency transformer with a 244cm-wide coil, he created power of two to four million volts.  Still, the urban environment of New York City did not suit the need of Tesla’s experiments.  For that reason, in 1898, a search for a suitable location began.

With the help of the lawyer Leonard E. Curtis, in early 1899 a plateau on Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs was chosen.  The necessary financial means and the electric power supplying the new laboratory were provided as well.

At that time, Tesla was a rising star, always followed by journalists.  He skillfully employed the attention of the media for self-promotion by giving sensational statements.  The arrival at Colorado was recorded in the local newspaper (Evening Telegraph), which in its issue from May 19th 1899, under the headline “Nikola Tesla will send a telegraph to France,” published:

“The genius of electricity is arriving to the city at noon to research the problems in the field of wireless telegraph and the role of the upper layers of atmosphere.”

Before coming to Colorado, Tesla spent considerable time in his research dedicated to the area of high-frequency currents.  He discovered that those currents have a characteristic physiological influence on people, so it was possible to use them in medicine.  Pipes filled with rarefied gas would shine even if not connected with wires to an electric outlet.  These experiments were first of the kind, the first examples of wireless transport of electricity and the beginning of a new era in Tesla’s research.

Colorado Springs

Laboratory in Colorado Springs

Already on June 2nd, Tesla’s lab was ready for use.  Experiments were most often conducted at night because Tesla had access to electricity provided by City Electric Company then.  Everything was done in complete secrecy, in other words the access to the laboratory, beside Tesla, was only allowed to his associates.  In the period between June 1st 1899 and January 7th 1900, Tesla dedicated most attention in his research to the generator of high-frequency power, receivers for low signals and various interesting measuring.  With the help of his high-frequency oscillator, he developed power of 10 million volts. 

The spectacular experiments were visible miles away.  After all his testing and experiments, a few days before his departure from Colorado Springs, Tesla made a series of photos of the outside and the inside of the laboratory.  On certain photos fearsome sparks a few dozen meters in length can be seen.  At that time, he was the only one who could perform something like that.

Instructed by earlier negative experience with destroyed materials, this great scientist wrote down his observations daily, and described his experiments in detail.  On the basis of those writings, the book Journal of Research from Colorado Springs 1899-1900 was published by Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade and later by Bureau for Textbooks and Educational Material.  Credit for publishing this work by Nikola Tesla goes to the member of the Academy, Prof. Dr. Aleksandar Marincic, the editor-in-chief.

After the return to New York, convinced by his friend and editor of the magazine The Century, Nikola Tesla wrote the essay “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy.”  The essay caused an incredible interest since in it Tesla published the results of his research.  On one occasion he declared:

“The Century insisted I write the article I had promised, and the writing of this article exerted all my strength.  I knew the article would be recorded in history because then, for the first time, I presented the results that were far above I, or anyone else in the world, had done."

Long Island

Laboratory on Long Island

The continuation of research in the area of wireless transport followed.  As he was advertised in the media, he drew attention of many strong financiers.  One of them was J.P. Morgan.  Tesla had not collaborated with Morgan before; moreover, in “The War of Currents” they were on opposite sides, but things have changed.  In 1901, Tesla started his project “World Telegraph System” and he chose Long Island as the location for his new laboratory.  The construction of a big laboratory started, in which Tesla wanted to confirm his earlier assumptions and to attempt to realize the transport of signal to longer distances. 

The idea was to send radio messages across Atlantic to the coast of England.  Also, for the purpose of wireless energy transport, Tesla intended to use planet Earth and the fact that at some frequencies it comes into resonance.  He though the Earth comes into resonance at 6, 18 and 30 Hz.  Not until the 1960s did someone dare to repeat this sort of experiment and determine that the approximately accurate values of the Earth’s resonance is 8,14 and 20 Hz.

This research engaged Tesla to such an extent, that he partly neglected “telegraphy,” i.e. radio transport.  With a much cheaper equipment, Marconi overcame Tesla, and succeeded in establishing transatlantic communication.  This was a disappointment for Tesla’s main financier, Morgan, and he cancelled the influx of money in 1902.  Tesla did not surrender, however.  He tried to explain to Morgan that what Marconi did was nothing spectacular, and that he could have performed the same thing earlier, but the main aims of his research are:

“1) transport of small amounts of energy and causing low effects, hardly measurable by sensitive devices; 2) transport of a significant amount of energy thereby eliminating the need for sensitive devices and enabling safe work for any kind of equipment requiring low power; and 3) transport of power in the amounts of industrial significance.”

Morgan was frustrated with this attitude, he though Tesla concealed information from him, and he never wanted to hear about him and his research again.  Tesla turned to other financiers, and he tried to find a new source of capital.  Since one of the most powerful men financially turned his back on him, however, this was rather difficult. 

This caused Tesla’s cessation of research in this area in 1905.  Although in his later articles and scholarly works he mentioned wireless transport of energy a few times, he did not succeed in attracting anyone to invest into this sort of research.  Until his last day, he was convinced that his ideas are real, and that they would be realized in the future.

The Fate of the Laboratories

The laboratory in Colorado was taken down five years after Tesla had left it.  Immediately before that, the news appeared in local newspapers that Tesla was sued for used-up electricity between June 1st 1903 and March 31st 1904.  In order to pay off the debt, the laboratory was sold for the price of wood, and Tesla’s instruments were stored somewhere so he can take them over.  As far as the unfinished lab on Long Island and the big tower are concerned, they awaited a similar fate.  Due to piled-up bills Tesla kept receiving, it was sold at an auction.  Today there is an AGFA company building at that site.

It is doubtless that Tesla was a pioneer in all the areas he engaged in.  He practically founded many branches of electrical engineering.  Still, although he attempted to realize his ideas about wireless transport of power over a hundred years ago, to this date no one has accomplished this feat.  The exception is transport of low power. 

Every day, while using our mobile phones, we participate in a process of wireless transport and reception of energy.  Unfortunately, the transmission of great powers is so far unrealizable because of great losses.  Perhaps some day someone will set out in the footsteps of this great man and find a way to realize the life dream of Nikola Tesla.