Translator: Alberto Pagani Reviewer: Ivana Korom
Thank you all for being here,
I am honoured to open the 2011 TEDxBologna
by showing you an extraordinary invention
created by the scientist
who is the most unfairly censored by all science books.
He is Nikola Tesla, father to more than 700 patents
that revolutionised the world.
Few know that the invention of the radio
was his, and not Guglielmo Marconi's.
The Italian marquise simply used 17 of Tesla's patents
on wireless telegraphy
to obtain a Nobel Prize,
and this is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt
by the dates on the patents
and by a sentence from the US Supreme Court in 1943.
It also commonly ignored that it was Tesla,
and not Thomas Alva Edison, that made energy available
in the form of the alternate current used today
in industries and households.
When Tesla went to the US, in fact,
Edison still held the monopoly over electric technology.
But all his patents covered continuous current
- the one used today in batteries -
that was not fit to be transferred over long distances.
Tesla, in order to make his technology blossom,
had to engage in a fierce battle,
a business battle versus Edison.
He had Mr. Westinghouse behind him and Edison,
to defend his royalties on continuous current
and undermine the progress of the new technology,
tried to exaggerate its dangers to the public.
To do that, he created the world's first electric chair
and donated it to the State of New York
that used it for its first executions.
He also organised public displays
in front of the media
where he would electrocute small and large animals
like the elephant Topsy that we see here in these clips.
In the end, the technology of alternate current prevailed
and we see it operating even in here
- we have Tesla's poliphase systems here -
along with modern system that employ
motors with rotating magnetic fields.
He illuminated the Chicago International Fair of 1893,
and since then the alternate current
developed as the dominant technology.
Tesla's inventions range from the first logic doors in PCs
to robotics, to radar technology, to X-rays,
to vertical take-off airplanes, to superconductors,
to wireless energy transmission,
to the first hydroelectric power plant
to operate on alternate current
that was built to power the city of Buffalo
on the Niagara Falls, where we can also find Tesla's statue.
In 1898, in front of the astonished crowd
of the Madison Square Garden in New York,
Tesla showed a completely automated vessel
that was radio controlled and could perform any task
like steer right, left, go forward, backwards,
submerge, emerge, blink its lights
and even self destruct.
That's not all. Nikola Tesla, by the end of 1800,
had a knowledge of physics so advanced
in the oscillatory nature of matter,
this meaning that every atom has a resonance frequency,
that he created a science that he called telegeodynamics
using which he could cause,
by alteration of normal atom vibrations,
the collapse of any material, even the hardest ones like iron,
and even cause artificial earthquakes
as we can see here in a History Channel clip.
(Speaker): Although many of Tesla's inventions
effectively demonstrated their benefits to human beings,
he pushed his vision into obscure territories,
with frightening and destructive goals.
One of nature's most powerful forces is earthquakes.
Suppose we could use this force as a weapon.
According to some, Tesla knew how to do it.
Telegeodynamic techniques involve a mechanic oscillator:
a device that can produce vibrations
in order to resonate with different structures and materials.
This oscillator is based on the principle
that every material has its own resonance frequency.
If this frequency is amplified by an external source
such as an oscillator, any kind of material
can be shaken up to its fracture point.
The destruction of Washington's Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940
demonstrates this principle.
Winds hit the bridge violently
with the right frequency
causing a wide oscillation of the steel structure
that follows a precise rhythmic scheme
which in the end destroys the bridge.
Marco Pizzuti: While researching for censored science,
I couldn't help but stumble on Tesla's figure.
The more I tried to understand
how such a historical amnesia had been possible
the more I was convinced that it wasn't by chance.
I then felt the strong desire to test his patents
on wireless energy transmission,
patents that many thought to be just a myth.
Obviously I didn't have a lab fit for the purpose
so I started with some home-made experiments
on the kitchen counter or the dining table.
My companion was, rather often,
the smell of burnt insulation materials
under the stress of high voltage currents.
Sometimes I was even able to feel it in my salad
or in the ragu made by my wife, who is here with us today.
Finally I was able to light a lamp from a distance
just as Nikola Tesla described in his patents.
A 100W tungsten filament lightbulb
was shining while powered only by an antenna.
I still couldn't understand
how this historical amnesia had been possible,
and I discovered what undermined the scientific credibility
of this technology:
it was the finance lobby
and its purely economic interests.
In particular, his former business partner's interests,
the banker Jean Pierpoint Morgan.
He opposed wireless energy transfer technology
because he preferred to sell the expensive copper wires
necessary for traditional power lines
and because he wanted to control the electricity market,
monitoring it by connecting a meter to each line.
If Tesla had been successful
in commercialising his project,
- he was building a 47m high tower in Wardencliffe, NY -
had he managed to complete it,
according to his own statements
he could have transmitted energy by land
with a revolutionary technology
that used artificially created stationary waves
and Earth as an elastic electric storage unit.
With this technology he intended to transfer energy
in every corner of the world without dispersion,
and everyone could receive it, freely,
simply planting an antenna in their backyard.
Things didn't go this way:
Morgan blocked the fundings
needed to complete the tower
and spread rumors about the scientist's sudden madness.
This despite the fact that Tesla
was the personification of gifted intelligence:
he was fluent in nine languages,
knew all the world's literature practically by heart,
something quite rare for a physicist,
but most importantly he conceived his inventions
from idea to practice in the smallest details.
So he could go from idea to finished product
without any experimental phase on prototypes.
Had his project been completed successfully,
today we probably wouldn't be surrounded by the cables
that characterise modern cities,
and exhaust batteries warehouses would be history too.
Because of the rumours spread by Morgan
Tesla was considered insane
and wireless energy transmission technology
was forgotten even before the scientist's death.
Or so it has been since 2007, when M.I.T. researchers
declared during a press conference
that they had been able to transfer energy
to a distance up to 2.13 metres using a 400W generator
to light up a 60W bulb.
Those who didn't know Nikola Tesla's story
only saw a miracle of science.
It actually was just a rough application
of his patents from the late 1800s.
How does Witricity work?
Right after this fantastic announcement
the Witricity Corporation was founded,
a company that is releasing into the market
a new generation of electrical devices
that instead of the traditional cable or battery,
are directly powered by a simple antenna.
These systems work as follows, according to Tesla:
when two electric circuits resonate at the same frequency
they can resonate even at a distance
without the need of physical connection.
So if we take a transmitter, an oscillating circuit,
and we power it in order to produce electrical vibrations
these will tend to propagate
to all other oscillating electrical circuits
that share the same resonance frequency.
This translates into wireless energy transmission,
a principle already well known in the musical field
where, basically, the same rules can apply.
There are some string instruments
such as the Baryton
where we have two sets of strings.
The first is mechanically operated by the player
while the second vibrates out of sympathy,
in resonance with the sound waves emitted by the first set.
Today we will try to crash the M.I.T.'s record with a Tesla system,
transferring energy wirelessly
at a distance of 3 metres instead of only 2.13
in order to power a 50W bulb with a 400W generator.
Then we will try the same thing at 1.2 metres,
this time to light up a 400W halogen bulb
and observe that, at this short distance,
this can occur practically without dispersion,
just as if there were a copper wire.
This kind of technology could already find some application
in new generation electric cars,
those that are equipped not with chemical batteries
but with latest generation ultra-condensers
that grant an almost instantaneous charge.
This was done by Lotus for example with their concept car,
the Zap-x, an electric car that can recharge
in as little as 8 minutes,
can run for 500 km
with a top speed of 250 km/h
and more that 600 cv of power.
The M.I.T. system, differently from the one we will use today,
employs a copper coil to produce a magnetic field
that the receiving coil reconverts into electric current.
I will now go on with the experiment
since my time is running short.
(Applause)
Thank you, now...
Now with 400W, and negligible dispersion.
(Applause)
Thank you.
Now, this is the coil, the transmitting circuit
ant this is the receiving coil.
Those who see that cable may say that it is plugged in
and think: what about the wireless part?
But this is only the grounding system:
the only thing you really need is a good grounding.
To beat the record I needed the grounding system of the building.
But you can do the same with some soil in a flower pot
albeit with inferior performance
because you have less soil to work with.
Ladies and gentlemen,
electrycity-from-backyard-antennas by Nikola Tesla.
(Applause)
Andrea Pauri: Thank you Marco, congratulations.