Science

If One Man Gets His Way, You Could Soon Tour the Inventor Tesla’s Old Lab

The Oatmeals Matthew Inman Launches Campaign to Raise $850,000 to Purchase Teslas Laboratory for a Museum

Wardenclyffe Tower (Image: Wikimedia)

Nikola Tesla’s old laboratory — Wardenclyffe — sits on a plot of land in Shoreham, New York, where the scientist once sought to create a global system for wireless communication. With funding for Tesla’s project from J.P. Morgan ending in the early 1900s, the tower he was building to achieve this goal was demolished and the land sold.

Now, the land is up for sale again and one man is leading the charge to help a non-profit purchase it and create the country’s first Tesla museum. This man is Matthew Inman, owner of The Oatmeal blog. The pricetag on the land is $1.6 million, but with the state saying it would provide a matching grant, PC Mag reports Inman only has to raise $850,000. With more than 40 days left to raise the money, he’s already more than half way there.

The Oatmeals Matthew Inman Launches Campaign to Raise $850,000 to Purchase Teslas Laboratory for a Museum

(Image: The Oatmeal)

PC Mag calls Inman’s efforts to spread the word to raise the funds an “amusing plea for help.” Inman has launched his campaign on all the viral social media channels and other Web platforms. To interest his intended audience, he created a cartoon story on his blog describing Tesla — “the greatest geek who ever lived” — and his achievements that merit a museum. Here are a few screenshots of his blog post, but be sure to check out the full thing here.

The Oatmeals Matthew Inman Launches Campaign to Raise $850,000 to Purchase Teslas Laboratory for a Museum

(Image: The Oatmeal)

The Oatmeals Matthew Inman Launches Campaign to Raise $850,000 to Purchase Teslas Laboratory for a Museum

(Image: The Oatmeal)

Inman also notes that while $850,000 would help secure the land, more donations are welcome to get construction of the actual museum off to a good start. Inman puts out a personal call to specific companies and celebrities who may have a stake in this museum on his blog.

The Oatmeals Matthew Inman Launches Campaign to Raise $850,000 to Purchase Teslas Laboratory for a Museum

(Image: The Oatmeal)

According to Jalopnik, Inman’s personal request to Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has been answered. Musk said in an email although it wasn’t “a good use of Tesla corp funds [...] I’m personally open to the idea,” citing the fact that Tesla is a hero of his.

If you’re not convinced that Tesla deserves a whole museum, Inman also pulls together in another blog post (Note: some strong language) many of Tesla’s inventions and other reasons why he was “the greatest geek who ever lived.” These include, but are not limited to, alternating current providing electrical power as we know it, experiments with cryogenic engineering and neon lighting.

See the full blog post by Inman and/or find donation options here.

As of the time of this posting, Inman had helped raise more than $494,000 and has 44 days left to reach the goal.

(H/T: Huffington Post)

Comments (49)

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  • TeslanEdison
    Posted on August 18, 2012 at 2:41am

    I would love more Tesla stories Blaze!

    Report Post »  
  • JEANNIEMAC
    Posted on August 18, 2012 at 12:51am

    Tesla invented the alternating current process. He needed money and sold the patent to Westinghouse, in return for royalties. When Westinghouse found himself in need of funds, Tesla told him to forget about the royalties. Tesla did not die wealthy.

    Report Post »  
  • JEANNIEMAC
    Posted on August 18, 2012 at 12:44am

    http://www.nuenergy.org/alt/tesla_energy.htm
    Tesla patented his device for radiant energy. His idea is that the earth is a gigantic magnet, and that there is energy all around us. His device tapped that energy. He obtained financing from JP Morgan and had a plant built to manufacture the devices. when Tesla needed some more money to finish the project, JP Morgan wanted more details about the device. Then JP Morgan realized that if these devices were distributed around the world, providing free electricity to the world’s population, there would be no demand for coal, oil, etc. The billionaires would go out of business. He told his friends not to finance Tesla and had the plant torn down.
    The patents are there in the patent office. The Russian were given access to our patent office some years ago, and you can bet they are making full use of it.

    Report Post »  
  • Structure21
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 10:33pm

    Tesla was an incredible inventor and if it gets built I am going.

    Report Post »  
  • markaminc
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:53pm

    Tesla and many others tried to do something to harness the power of the earths electro system, it was never completed until now. You can see the beginnings of a working system now at empirena.com. Electro Magnetic Pulse Ion Renewable Energy. Check it out and then watch as history is made.

    PS: Thanks Mr Tesla…for all you did!!

    Report Post »  
  • Jim
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 5:11pm

    Edison is WAY over rated!

    Report Post » Jim  
    • Constitutionalist Lineman
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:26pm

      Thank god for Tesla. If he hadn‘t come around I’d be stringing 400 4/0 circuits of 120V DC out of a generation station every half mile. Instead this man created a system where one circuit of 750KV 2167 KCMIL AC can power hundreds citys across several states and be safely and efficiently transformed down to sub transmission, distribution, and consumer voltages. It is sad that this man hasn’t been more revered throughout history, I will donate, hopefully more do so. I honestly believe this man did more to change human life than anyone since Jesus.

      Report Post » Constitutionalist Lineman  
  • lukerw
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:33pm

    Fantastic: RADIO ENERGY: Frequencies are Waves… Waves travel though anything… Waves are also Quantum… THEREBY; Energy can be transmitted Wirelessly and Used Anywhere!

    Tesla was a Great Person!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • OhioRifleman
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 4:29pm

      Tesla got jobbed by Edison, pure and simple. Such a bloody waste.

      Report Post » OhioRifleman  
  • Words_of_the_Buddah
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:18pm

    Did you know that Tesla had developed a method do deliver electricity without the need for wires, and had drawn up plans to provide FREE electricity to most of the world, but after his death the man who inherited these plans decided not to develop them because he couldn’t make any money off of it?

    Capitalism, holding back humanity since its creation.

    Report Post » Words_of_the_Buddah  
    • GoodStuff
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 3:30pm

      “Capitalism, holding back humanity since its creation”

      You’re not really this dumb are you? Capitalism gave us AC power, you clown.

      Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 4:28pm

      @GOOD…
      DC can be converted to AC… and the Earth’s MF can be used a Power Source!

      Read up on Tesla!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • RamonPreston
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 8:39pm

      LUKERW Get the book “Atlantis to Tesla” from Amazon.com. Telsa’s tower was to EXTRACT energry from the atmosphere. The Mill’s brothers in Canada built one and generated the power of NINE nuclear plants. It blew out all the diodes along the path to the US. The power companies wants this kept quiet.
      I am waiting for my book to arrive in the mail.

      Report Post » RamonPreston  
  • cassandra
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 2:17pm

    It’s about time this is awsome

    Report Post »  
  • razhunter911
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:48pm

    UFOTV® Presents : Nikola Tesla – The Untold Story
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoY_7mbm5ng

    Nikola Tesla unlimited free energy forever THEY dont want you to know about
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMhAIdqH0Cs

    Report Post » razhunter911  
  • 1977
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:42pm

    SWEET!!!!!!! This may even cause me to travel to Yankee country to see!!!

    Report Post » 1977  
  • TexasArmadillo
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:37pm

    Yall need to go check out The Oatmeal. It is one of the funniest sites on the Web. Especially, pay attention to the Bob Cats. Matt is a good guy. There was another website who ripped off copyrighted material. Matt lead a campaign to one make the guy look like an idiot, and two raise money for charity. I’ve seen this building on a History Channel show a few years ago. The equipment is gone, but the infrastructure is there. Support Tesla and The Oatmeal.

    Report Post » TexasArmadillo  
  • TESLA
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:34pm

    It‘s about freakin’ time!! They should have had a Tesla museum set up years ago. Well, better late than never, I guess. Tesla and his amazing work is finally being discovered after all these years. Now all we have to do is have the great works of John Worrell Keely, Dr. Royal Raymond Rife, Dr. Georges Lakhovsky, Thomas Thompson Brown, and Viktor Schauberger to be discovered and introduced into society and have museums built in honor of them. These brilliant gentlmen’s discoveries actually would have solved our pollution problems years ago as well as brought about cures for cancer and HIV. Unfortunately, and of course, their work was supressed by the powers that be. If we could just get rid of the Progressives, the Illuminati, and all the other Geoge Soros pig-types that rule this world, we might actually be able to get somewhere as a society. Just a thought.

    Report Post »  
  • TheLastPlainsman
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 1:11pm

    There is a Tesla museum in Colorado Springs. Colorado. That is where he concucted a great many experiments in the early 1900′s. The famous story of his funeling electricity directly into the ground from his lab about 30 miles east of Co.Sprgs that came up out of the ground and electrocuted a woman crossing the street comes from here.(The woman lived) Real cool place to geek over.

    Report Post »  
    • UNIX_Techie
      Posted on August 18, 2012 at 11:03am

      My understanding of what he was doing in Colorado Springs is trying to use the ground to transmit electricity. So to light your house you would tap into the ground. Not sure how the circuit completed.

      Report Post »  
  • Pink_Panther_Party
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:30pm

    Most of Tesla’s lab is reconfigured into rooms and other non-original areas. There IS NO original Tesla equipment still there and the place has had a couple of subsequent tenants, who had entirely different businesses.

    All the really cool Tesla equipment is either being hidden by the Smithsonian in DC (usual liberal agenda connections in favor of Edison…..not kidding), was destroyed in Tesla’s lab fire back in the day, or has been taken to Yugoslavia by the family members after Tesla’s death.

    Just a warning to anyone thinking of investing…….be sure to understand and research the above assertions before sending off your life savings……..lol

    If you do find Tesla interesting, the research of ACTUAL accomplishment and the amazing truth of how LITTLE we actually know and use of his discoveries, is virtually bottomless. According to Tesla, we live in a virtual SEA of free energy all around us and in my profession, I’m in a position to know just enough of how true that statement really is!

    Report Post » Pink_Panther_Party  
    • lukerw
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 4:34pm

      BRAVO… Universities should be working upon Tesla Theory & Unified Field Efftects… But, they are locked in Quantum Math… which is why Einstein said: We need another Mathematical System (to support Wave Theory)!

      Report Post » lukerw  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 5:50pm

      @Luker:

      The main part of quantum theory involves that of particles; the wave theory would encompass the second aspect of light in and of itself; since a beam of light is both a wave and a particle.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
    • TeslanEdison
      Posted on August 18, 2012 at 2:38am

      First off I’m pretty certain they have moved on to string theory, which exceeds quantum mechanics providing proofs for dimensional studies. So far as building a Museum, most of what Tesla invented is regularly recreated as science fairs, it would be nice and about time that there is a place you can go and see it all. It would be great to see ball lighting and streamers bouncing around a room in person, in specifically safe conditions. It would also be wonderful if they rebuilt the tower to the original specifications and made it operational, just because. They could get permission from the government to run it once, then record it’s effects and shut it down, just for historic purposes.

      Report Post »  
  • Brittany-Imbriaarts
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:25pm

    I was amazed when I first heard of this, How could there not be a Tesla Museum the man did so much for science and the development of modern technology

    Report Post » Brittany-Imbriaarts  
  • Amy
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:23pm

    Smithsonian American History Museum has a section on electricity-1st floor- Tesla is featured with having patented many inventions. He basically gave away the patents with the understanding that the world would benefit from free electricity. I love him, but not so much Edison.

    I would travel to upstate New York. Maybe the land has special magnetic properties :)

    Report Post » Amy  
  • wordweaver
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:56am

    I had read of Wardenclyffe, but assumed the whole thing was long gone. It looks like the building still stands, even though the tower was demolished. This would be an amazing site to host a museum for one of our most forward-thinking and under-appreciated scientists. I hope he succeeds in raising the funds, because he obviously has enthusiasm for the project.

    Report Post » wordweaver  
  • taxpro4u03
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:51am

    Most CREATIVE minds are content in their SPIRIT knowing they’ve produced something of actual value for the benefit of all mankind –. Glenn OUGHT to run some stories on HIM, good and bad. — Without Tesla‘s inventions it’s possible we‘d still be in the ’dark ages.’ “Progressives” are in fact ‘regressives.’ — On BOTH sides of the dominant political spectrum. BTW — HAARP is just a big ‘corn-spiracy’ theory… Like DARPA etc… NOTHING goes ‘public’ unless it is meant to induce FEAR or otherwise propagandize the general discourse of the masses. How long til force fields are implemented? Anyone ‘naive’ enough to ‘believe’ Reagan‘s Star wars programs are in cease and desist mode doesn’t pay attention.

    Report Post »  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:15am

    Looks like a good Ghost Hunters episode anyway.

    Report Post » Gonzo  
    • Bruce P.
      Posted on August 18, 2012 at 8:59am

      There is no such thing as a good Ghost Hunters episode.

      Report Post » Bruce P.  
  • sWamby
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:14am

    Thomas Edison was a lot like Jobs/Gates/Ellison, knew how to take others ideas, patent them, make money off them, crap on those whose ideas he took, and hold back innovation decades in the process.

    Report Post »  
    • forthepeople
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:01pm

      I cannot believe ‘ A Gates, Ellison’ type has not bought it already for that would be pocket change to them ? What a piece for a collection .

      Report Post » forthepeople  
  • Mike Benton
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:13am

    I wish I could donate enough money to make a difference. Tesla was a great scientist.

    Report Post » Mike Benton  
    • TexasHunter
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 12:01pm

      You can. if 850,000 people donate 1 dollar there you go. Just like the polls VOTE! You make the difference my friend.

      Report Post » TexasHunter  
  • hkyfan36
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:10am

    Tesla was one of the great inventors of all times. I have been to a few Tesla museums in Colorado Springs. I think it would be great to honer Tesla in the way he should be. He might not have been the best businessman but most inventors are not.

    Report Post »  
    • Polarized America
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:25am

      He sure showed Edison a thing or two about electricity, many of the things that we are using today can be attributed to Tesla… he won the fight with Edison over ..AC and Dc Power
      The guy surly should be in our History books…………………………>

      Report Post »  
    • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
      Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:38am

      Tesla is also accounted with developing many wonderful inventions, one of which the Mythbusters tested – the Tesla Earthquake Machine; which believe it or not actually worked. It did not cause a full scale quake, but when tested upon an old bridge slated for demoliton, it began establishing a natural harmonic with the bridge that would be able to bring it down.

      How long that would have taken is anyones guess; but it still would have taken it down.

      Tesla is as much a man of mystery, legend and true larger than life greatness who is owed his own place in the history of this nation; and I do believe GE should make up for their long ago crimes to him and his name.

      Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • contkmi
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 11:02am

    Cool! He was an amazing dude.

    Report Post » contkmi  
  • salvawhoray
    Posted on August 17, 2012 at 10:56am

    Tesla have some good songs.

    Report Post » salvawhoray  
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