Reading Nikola Tesla – part 1: laying a foundation

Here we are in 2018, over a hundred years later speculating about what could have been Nikola Tesla’s secret. I then think to myself: if only I could show you what I read, you would understand that there is no secret. When I read his articles and patents from 1900 onward, what I see is a man desperately trying to get his views across. He tries again and again in many different ways. But no-one seems to see what I see.

It is my sincere wish that one day people will read Tesla’s articles and really understand what he is saying.
So… Let me take you by the hand an walk you through his most famous article: “The Problem of Increasing Human Energy”, published in Century Illustrated Magazine of June 1900.

In this first part we need to make quite a few side steps to lay a foundation upon which we can then build, so let’s get to it.

THE ONWARD MOVEMENT OF MAN —THE ENERGY OF THE MOVEMENT—THE THREE WAYS OF INCREASING HUMAN ENERGY.
Of all the endless variety of phenomena which nature presents to our senses, there is none that fills our minds with greater wonder than that inconceivably complex movement which, in its entirety, we designate as human life; Its mysterious origin is veiled in the forever impenetrable mist of the past, its character is rendered incomprehensible by its infinite intricacy, and its destination is hidden in the unfathomable depths of the future. Whence does it come? What is it? Whither does it tend? are the great questions which the sages of all times have endeavoured to answer.

Let’s take a moment here. We have the foremost, the number one expert on electricity in his days, going to tell us something and what would the subject be? Human energy, an entirely abstract form of energy that would ‘move’ humanity forward. Century Magazine has given Tesla 36 pages for some abstract philosophical rant? Knowing Tesla as a very practical man we must stop here and think for a moment, “is this really the correct interpretation of this piece?”
What would in his days be the thing that would move humanity forward? That is quite obviously electricity, which is indeed a form of energy but not in the way Tesla presents it here.
You will find that there is a fine line throughout this piece between actual things and analogies. Once you understand this you have taken the first step to cracking Tesla’s “secret”.

Modern science says: The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future. From an incandescent mass we have originated, and into a frozen mass we shall turn. Merciless is the law of nature, and rapidly and irresistibly we are drawn to our doom. Lord Kelvin, in his profound meditations, allows us only a short span of life, something like six million years, after which time the sun's bright light will have ceased to shine, and its life giving heat will have ebbed away, and our own earth will be a lump of ice, hurrying on through the eternal night. But do not let us despair. There will still be left upon it a glimmering spark of life, and there will be a chance to kindle a new fire on some distant star. This wonderful possibility seems, indeed, to exist, judging from Professor Dewar's beautiful experiments with liquid air, which show that germs of organic life are not destroyed by cold, no matter how intense; consequently they may be transmitted through the interstellar space. Meanwhile the cheering lights of science and art, ever increasing in intensity, illuminate our path, and marvels they disclose, and the enjoyments they offer, make us measurably forgetful of the gloomy future.

Here we read why Tesla wrote this piece; because we have only a short span of life. Tesla felt that he may not be able to complete his opus magnum, so this article is the glimmering spark that will kindle a new fire in the distant future. It has in me, will it do the same in you? Let’s find out.
He also draws our attention to the fact that everything goes from a high to a low energy level like a clockwork running down. It feels incomplete, why was the clockwork wound up to begin with.

Here we take a sidestep to an article from Oct. 13th, 1932: “The Eternal Source of Energy of the Universe, Origin and Intensity of Cosmic Rays”

A little over one century ago many astronomers, including Laplace still thought that the system of heavenly bodies was unalterable and that they would perform their motions in the same manner through an eternity. But the gradual perfection of instruments and refinement of methods of investigation, achieved since that time, has led to the recognition that there is a continuous change going on in the celestial regions subjecting all bodies to ever varying influence. Where this change is leading to, and what is to be its final phase, have become questions of supreme scientific interest. In a communication to the Royal Society of Edinburgh dated April 19, 1852 and the Philosophical Magazine of October of the same year, Lord Kelvin drew attention to the general tendency in nature towards dissipation of mechanical energy, a fact borne out in daily observation of thermo-dynamic and dynamo-thermic processes and one of ominous significance. It meant that the driving force of the universe was steadily decreasing and that ultimately all of its motive energy will be exhausted none remaining available for mechanical work. In the macro-cosmos, with its countless conception, this process might require billions of years for its consummation; but in the infinitesimal worlds of the micro-cosmos it must have been quickly completed. Such being the case then, according to an experimental findings and deductions of positive science, any material substance (cooled down to the absolute zero of temperature) should be devoid of an internal movement and energy, so to speak, dead.

Before we continue with this article I would like to show another quote on “the death of matter” from Feb 24th, 1893 “On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena”

So, the atom, the ulterior element of the Universe's structure, is tossed about in space eternally, a play to external influences, like a boat in a troubled sea. Were it to stop its motion it would die: matter at rest, if such a thing could exist, would be matter dead. Death of matter! Never has a sentence of deeper philosophical meaning been uttered. This is the way in which Prof. Dewar forcibly expresses it in the description of his admirable experiments, in which liquid oxygen is handled as one handles water, and air at ordinary pressure is made to condense and even to solidify by the intense cold: Experiments, which serve to illustrate, in his language, the last feeble manifestations of life, the last quiverings of matter about to die. But human eyes shall not witness such death. There is no death of matter, for throughout the infinite universe, all has to move, to vibrate, that is, to live.

It is this last sentence that is important here. Matter can not die, so there must be a force that winds up the clockwork as it runs down, and Tesla knew this in 1893.
Now we return to Oct. 13th, 1932: “The Eternal Source of Energy of the Universe, Origin and Intensity of Cosmic Rays”, where we left off.

This idea of the great philosopher, who later honoured me with his friendship, had a fascinating effect on my mind and in meditating over it I was struck by the thought that if there is energy within the substance it can only come from without. This truth was so manifest to me that I expressed it in the following axiom: "There is no energy in matter except that absorbed from the medium." Lord Kelvin gave us a picture of a dying universe, of a clockwork wound up and running down, inevitably doomed to come to a full stop in the far, far off future. It was a gloomy view incompatible with artistic, scientific and mechanical sense. I asked myself again and again, was there not some force winding up the clock as it runs down? The axiom I had formulated gave me a clue. If all energy is supplied to matter from without then this all important function must be performed by the medium. Yes--but how? I pondered over this oldest and greatest of all riddles of physical science a long time in vain, despairingly remind of the words of the poet:

Wo fass ich dich unendliche Natür?
Euch Bruste wo Ihr Quellen alles Lebens
An denen Himmel und Erdë hangt. . .

Where, boundless nature, can I hold you fast?
And where you breasts? Wells that sustain
All life--the heaven and the earth are nursed.
Goethe. Faust

What I strove for seemed unattainable, but a kind fate favoured me and a few inspired experiments lifted the veil. It was a revelation wonderful and incredible explaining many mysteries of nature and disclosing as in a lightening flash the illusionary character of some modem theories incidentally also bearing out the universal truth of the above axiom.

When radio-active rays were discovered their investigators believed them to be due to liberation of atomic energy in the form of waves. This being impossible in the light of the preceding I concluded that they were produced by some external disturbance and composed of electrified particles. My theory was not seriously taken although it appeared simple and plausible. Suppose that bullets are fired against a wall. Where a missile strikes the material is crushed and spatters in all directions radial from the place of impact. In this example it is perfectly clear that the energy of the flying pieces can only be derived from that of the bullets. But in manifestation of radio-activity no such proof could be advanced and it was, therefore, of the first importance to demonstrate experimentally the existence of this miraculous disturbance in the medium. I was rewarded in these efforts with quick success largely because of the efficient method I adopted which consisted in deriving from a great mass of air, ionized by the disturbance, a current, storing its energy in a condenser and discharging the same through an indicating device. This plan did away with the limitations and incertitude of the electroscope first employed and was described by me in articles and patents from 1900 to 1905.

Sorry for interrupting this article again, but I just want to point out that this method is identical to what he described in June 10th that same year “Tesla Cosmic Ray Motor May Transmit Power ‘Round Earth”:

“I will tell you in the most general way,” he said. “The cosmic ray ionizes the air, setting free many charges—ions and electrons. These charges are captured in a condenser which is made to discharge through the circuit of the motor.”

It is necessary to pay some extra attention to these words because they are our first explanation of how the Magnifying Transmitter gets its extra energy. Something I have just been able to successfully verify.
Back to the October article:

It was logical to expect, judging from the behaviour of known radiations, that the chief source of the new rays would be the sun, but this supposition was contradicted by observations and theoretical considerations which disclosed some surprising facts in this connection.
Light and heat rays are absorbed in their passage through a medium in a certain proportion to its density. The ether, although the most tenuous of all substances, is no exception to this rule. Its density has been first estimated by Lord Kelvin and conformably to his finding a column of one square centimetre cross section and of a length such that light, travelling at a rate of three hundred thousands kilometres per second, would require one year to traverse it, should weigh 4.8 grams. This is just about the weigh of a prism of ordinary glass of the same cross section and two centimetres length which, therefore, may be assumed as the equivalent of the ether column in absorption. A column of the ether one thousand times longer would thus absorb as much light as twenty meters of glass. However, there are suns at distances of many thousands of light years and it is evident that virtually no light from them can reach the earth. But if these suns emit rays immensely more penetrative than those of light they will be slightly dimmed and so the aggregate amount of radiations pouring upon the earth from all sides will be overwhelmingly greater than that supplied to it by our luminary. If light and heat rays would be as penetrative as the cosmic, so fierce would be the perpetual glare and so scorching the heat that life on this and other planets could not exist.
Rays in every respect similar to the cosmic are produced by my vacuum tubes when operated at pressures of ten millions of volts or more, but even if it were not confirmed by experiment, the theory I advanced in 1897 would afford the simplest and most probable explanation of the phenomena. Is not the universe with its infinite and impenetrable boundary a perfect vacuum tube of dimensions and power inconceivable? Are not its fiery suns electrodes at temperatures far beyond any we can apply in the puny and crude contrivances of our making? Is it not a fact that the suns and stars are under immense electrical pressures transcending any that man can ever produce and is this not equally true of the vacuum in celestial space? Finally, can there be any doubt that cosmic dust and meteoric matter present an infinitude of targets acting as reflectors and transformers of energy? If under ideal working conditions, and with apparatus on a scale beyond the grasp of the human mind, rays of surpassing intensity and penetrative power would not be generated, then, indeed, nature has made an unique exception to its laws.

I like this last paragraph because it is so powerful; “Do you really insist on denying the obvious?”.
The Electric Universe movement is a group of modern scientists who understand this and who are working on removing this blind spot of modern science.

Well, in this first part we have not gone deep into the main article but we now have our foundation.
We have learned about the Primary Cosmic Rays (PCR) and their function in our universe to “wind up the clockwork” and keep matter “alive”.
These are rays of minute charged particles, travelling faster than light. They are immensely penetrative and are the cause of radioactive decay. Also they are the cause of “secondary cosmic radiation” (SCR) which is released as bremsstrahlung during the interaction with matter. They could also be the cause of gravity, as I have described in an earlier post. These PCR are emitted by highly charged conductors in high vacuum.

We have also learned about his axiom “There is no energy in matter except that absorbed from the medium” which is one of two important axioms to always keep in mind when reading Tesla's work. The other one is “Matter cannot act where it is not.” (see his lecture on May 20th 1891 of which a beautifully illustrated version now is available).
Also read my post on ether and the medium which is another key to understanding Tesla.

More to come.