CELEBRATION OF 150th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF NIKOLA TESLA (1856-2006) THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
Nikola Tesla Monument within Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls (Canadian side) was unveiled on July 9, 2006
Nikola Tesla Monument within Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls (Canadian side) was unveiled on July 9, 2006
Above: Tesla Monument at Niagara Falls unveiled on July 9, 2006. Tesla is standing atop an AC motor, one of the 700 inventions he patented. In the background is Niagara Falls, Canadian side.
Above: Tesla Monument at Niagara Falls unveiled on July 9, 2006. Tesla is standing atop an AC motor, one of the 700 inventions he patented.
Above: Unveiling ceremony. From left to right: Prof. Aleksandar Marincic, member of Serbian Academy of Sciences and President of the Tesla Memorial Society of New York, Pavle Cosic, President of the Tesla Society of Cleveland, Ohio, Mark Seifer, Tesla biographer, and Dr. Ljubo Vujovic, Secretary General of the Tesla Memorial Society of New York.
Please have a look at:
http://www.teslasociety.com/victoria.htm
http://www.teslasociety.com/victoria2.htm
This email below was sent from Les Drysdale to the Tesla Memorial Society of New York. In his e-mail Les Drysdale explains his feelings and emotions related to his work on the Tesla Monument and explains important details which were not known before. The letter, as much as his Tesla Monument, revealed the thoughts of a man behind the sculpture.
Subj: Tesla Sculpture
Date: 8/18/2006 1:19:43 PM Pacific Standard Time
From: leslie_drysdale@hotmail.com
To: teslasociety@aol.com
Dear Tesla Society of New York,
I have been asked to say a few words for the Tesla Society about my sculpture of Nikola Tesla in Niagara Falls. The Sculpture has been up for just over a month now and it has occurred to me that the photographs I have seen all look great, but I really hope people get the chance to visit the site and see it in person. I think that if the viewer actually walks up to and around the work, even touches the sculpture only then will they be able to see and feel all that went into the work and to understand its full meaning. Not only is there the experience of the presence of the sculpture in the setting of Niagara Falls that surpassed even my expectations. There are also little details that have been placed here and there as rewards to the inquisitive. You see my greatest challenge was not just to create a portrait of Tesla that had the physical likeness of the man but to create something that also said something about his life, his relationship with Niagara, how he thought, , his amazing accomplishments and give the sculpture something of the poetic elegance and and theatricality that permeated everything he put his mind to.
The first impression of the sculpture as you walk toward the falls is that of the figure of Nikola Tesla facing the falls and he appears to be standing on top of a motor. On closer inspection you’ll notice that he is not just standing he is almost mid stride, his weight is shifted slightly on his right leg as if pausing during a walk in a Budapest Park. Tesla has a walking stick in his hand and he is glancing down at something he is drawing and he is standing on what appears to be flat ground with gravel, leaves and debris at his feet. These are the first clues as to the overall concept of the sculpture He is pausing and in the process of creation, giving insight as to how his amazing mind worked, as most of his inventions were developed from start to precise completion in his head. As the story goes, the idea for the AC motor was drawn on the ground during a walk with a friend. I have adapted this story by creating a natural path on which Tesla is walking. Here my intention is to show the ‘mystery that is his mind’, developing an abstract idea from the theoretical to the concrete. Tesla is drawing three sine waves on the ground that are out of sync by 120 degrees (his revolutionary idea that created AC electricity; on a oscilloscope AC electricity appears as 3 sine waves) The waves he is drawing flow out and into the real foundation beneath him, the AC motor, as does the idea become the foundation of every motor and
generator to this day.
As you walk around the sculpture you’ll find a quote of Tesla's along one side of the outer housing of the motor. It says, “The possibilities of will power and self control appeal tremendously to my vivid imagination…. Until finally my will and wish become identical. They are so today, and in this lies the secret of whatever success I have achieved. My imaginings were equivalent to realities.”
Tesla 1915Also on the ground if you look closely you will find two coins. The one behind him is a Serbian coin from 1879 a reminder of origins and around the time he designed the first Ac motor. The other lies in front of him, a Canadian coin representing the year he designed the Niagara falls power station. He is walking from the old world to the new and creating it in the process.Another little story I found interesting while researching Tesla's life was his fondness for pigeons and doves. There was one in particular that was his favorite. They seemed to have a special bond. On the occasion that Tesla had to move apartments in the New Yorker or the Waldorf Astoria where he lived the bird would always find him. I have included the dove in the sculpture just because I thought Tesla might like the thought. I won’t say where it is and will leave it for you to find.
Finally I’d like to say what an honor it has been to be afforded the opportunity to create a monument to such a brilliant man in a place that is so significant I have to thank both the St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Niagara Falls, and The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) for making it all possible. When I began this project I had no idea just how much Tesla meant to so many people and how neglected his contributions to humanity have been. I only hope that in some small way I have contributed to correcting this historical oversight and created something worthy of such a great man.
I invite any comments you may have. I can be reached by email at
leslie_drysdale@hotmail.com.Yours sincerely
Les Drysdale Sculptor
Letter from Les Drysdale translated into Serbian
(translated by Dr. Ljubo Vujovic and Zeljko Saric)
Above: Les Drysdale, the famous Tesla monument sculptor with Dr. Ljubo Vujovic, General Secretary Tesla Memorial Society of New York, at the unveiling ceremony.
Please have a look at: http://www.teslasociety.com/les.htm
Please have a look at: http://www.teslasociety.com/records2.htm
- Serbia is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla with the opening of the Tesla Monument in Victoria Park, Niagara Falls (Canadian Side)
- International Belgrade Airport named "Nikola Tesla Airport"
- "Nikola Tesla Year 2006" proclaimed by UNESCO and Serbian and Croatian Government
- Proposal for "Nikola Tesla Day", July 10th, through the United Nations made by Tesla Memorial Society of New York and Tesla Forum from Australia.
- The Archive of the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, named by UNESCO, "Memory of the World".
Above: "Tesla's World of Electricity" at the Belgrade City Hall
Above: The Belgrade International Airport is as of recently called the Nikola Tesla Belgrade International Airport and a monument dedicated to him has been unveiled at the airport on July 10, 2006.
Above: Distinguished guests at the Reception of CP Alexander II and Princess Katherine in honour of Nikola Tesla held at The White Palace in Belgrade.
Please have a look at: http://www.teslasociety.com/serbia150.htm
Please have a look at: http://www.teslasociety.com/belgradecom.htm
Above: National Academy of Sciences and Engineering, along Constitution Avenue, Washington D.C.
Please have a look at: http://www.teslasociety.com/NAE.htm
Above: Tesla Diploma of honorary Doctor of Collegium Columbiae (June 1894)
Please have a look at: http://www.teslasociety.com/lettersalute.htm
Opening Ceremony on July 10, 2006 Nikola Tesla Memorial Center and his birth house in Smiljan, Lika, Croatia
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