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The story of
Nikola Tesla is, in many ways, the story of the 20th Century. It’s a story of great inventions, intense
rivalries, bitter defeats, and soaring triumphs. But Tesla’s is a story that few people are
familiar with, and which far fewer know well.
It is our intention to help rectify this historic oversight.
We're Show Time Exhibitions, a traveling exhibit producer in Vancouver WA. And we’re here
today to tell you about Tesla: The Man Who
Electrified the World, a
traveling interactive exhibit based on the life and works of Nikola
Tesla.
Most people today
associate the name Tesla with the car or the band of the same name, or
scientific devices like the Tesla Coil and the Tesla Turbine. But Tesla’s legacy is far greater than
that. His 270 patents encompass so many
inventions - from the A.C. electrical power and distribution system we use and
take for granted every day, to
earthquake machines and theoretical death rays.
His realization of the concept of the rotating magnetic field is the
driving force behind the bulk of electric motors currently in use. He was truly one of the great geniuses of the
modern world.
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The project we propose will be a 5000 square
foot traveling exhibit.
Beginning with
an amazing display of electricity in its rawest, purest form, the exhibit will
encompass Tesla’s life and works in toto: from his birth in what is now Croatia in 1856 and
education, through his arrival in
America , his multiple creative works in his New York City and Colorado Springs
laboratories, culminating in the
Wardenclyffe, New York laboratory and
project – wireless distribution of electrical power worldwide. It will showcase his many inventive
achievements – his conceptualization and development of AC power, his work with
wireless communication and transmission of power (including the Tesla Coil),
fluid dynamics and the Tesla Turbine, the invention of arc and fluorescent
lighting, periodicity and the mechanical oscillator – the “Earthquake Machine”
– and so many more. Finally, we will
seek to explore not only his scientific achievements, but to also explore his
relationships with some of the most remarkable people of the day, including
Mark Twain, George Westinghouse, J.P. Morgan, Thomas Edison, and many others.
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The funding we're trying to raise for Phase 1 is for the exhibit R&D - fleshing out the exhibit design, developing the content and bilingual script, and engineering the fantastic high voltage interactive elements throughout the exhibit. Typically, an
exhibition of this type is sponsored one of two ways: either through venture capital or
through corporate sponsorship.
In either
case, historical and scientific accuracy are often viewed through the lens of
the sponsor, who can veto content that they consider to be too
controversial. In the case of Tesla,
there are many companies who could be logically approached as sponsors. But we're a different kind of exhibit company. We think the story of Tesla is far too
important to be subject to any censorship corporate sponsors might impose. Which is why we have come to you, the
visitors and supporters of Indiegogo.
Tesla’s story
must be told completely and accurately, free of outside influence. To that end, we have arranged with the Tesla
Science Center at Wardenclyffe, the Tesla Society of Switzerland, and Dr. Marc Seifer, author of The
Life and Times of Nikola Tesla: Biography of a Genius to provide content
review for both historical and technical accuracy. Combined with our experience
developing incredible traveling exhibits, we think you’ll agree we’re the right
team for the job to do Tesla’s incredible story justice.
Tesla – The Man Who Electrified The World is projected to tour worldwide for
5-7 years, beginning in late 2014. At
the end of the tour, it will move to its final home, as a permanent exhibit at
the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, New York . By contributing to this project, you are also
contributing to the future Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe. A portion of the proceeds from
the exhibition tour will be earmarked to assist in the rehabilitation and
renovation of the Wardenclyffe facility.
We have the
experience. We have the knowledge. We have the backing of some of the most
respected members of the Tesla community.
Now we need your support. Look
over our exhibit plans and renderings elsewhere on this page. Then give what you
can. Help us tell Tesla’s story as it
should be told –and be part of a revolutionary new exhibit that will bring Tesla’s genius to a broader audience than ever before.
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photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/t_zero/8541467498/
Tau Zero via http://photopin.com
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
