“The moment when somebody designs an imaginary device, there is a problem of putting the raw idea into practice. That’s why any discovery made this way has lack of details, and usually it is inferior… My method is a different one.” – Nikola Tesla
In the beginning of the 20th century Nikola Tesla was already thinking ahead to solve the world’s problems we currently deal with contemporarily: he wanted to save the entire world from fuel dependency and create wireless communication for all. But due to insufficient funds and lack of support to keep his facility running, the Wardenclyffe tower was torn down in 1917 and his entire plan crumbled because well, money (and so it goes…).
And for a man who told journalists, “I will not work for the present any more, I am working for the future[.] The future is mine!”, his method was actually quite simple (or so he makes it sound): use your imagination. The thinker and inventor made some of his most notable ideas come to life just by using various mental processes based on premonitions thought up in the moment, often requiring a specific outlook on mathematics that most back then would never even begin to understand.
Now that what’s left of Tesla’s workspace is for sale, cartoonist and creator of The Oatmeal Matthew Inman has raised over $1 million of the $1.6 million needed, which is much deserved to honor the great inventor who never got the recognition he deserved. Inman said, “Tesla is an unsung hero, and there are very few monuments to him in the United States. I feel like that’s something we need to fix[.] […] I made a comic about Tesla on my site. It got the most ‘likes’ on Facebook that I’ve ever seen in my career. Combine [the fact] that I’ve got this army of Tesla fans and the experience and success with my other fund-raiser, I felt like I was the ideal person to step in to control.”
So what are you waiting for? Let’s build a god damn museum (donate!).
(via CNN; photo via The Oatmeal)
