Tesla Science Centre

Saturday 25th October 2014

On Saturday 25th October my sidekick and I went on a 230 mile round trip drive in the Tesla Roadster. Fun, Fun, Fun!

And the reason for this trip? Well, that was to go to Shoreham, New York to the Tesla meets Tesla Event at the soon to be Tesla Science Centre.

The Tesla Science Centre will be on the site of Nikola Tesla’s laboratory – The Wardenclyffe Tower Facility. Wardenclyffe is the last place that Nikola Tesla worked and had a lab. Here he built his 187 foot tall tower. It was never totally completed but, it was built with the intent of being able to send wireless communications around the world. The site was closed down around 1905 as funds to continue Nikola’s research had begun to dry up and investors were pulling out. He was unable to obtain anymore funds.

There is still an awfully long way to go to get the site up and ready to be a Science Centre. There is a lot of clean up work to be done as the labs are currently full of asbestos but, once it’s complete it will be really good. Nikola’s tower that once loomed over the labs has long since been demolished and all that is left is the stone circumference. The site, once completed, will feature a Nikola Tesla Museum within the Science Centre, a Technology Zone, a Physics Playground, Environmental Science Corner along with event and exhibit halls. There is a statue of Nikola Tesla at the front of the labs that was donated by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

It was interesting to be on the site where Nikola Tesla did his experiments. It is also interesting to be driving a car which uses AC motors based on Nikola Tesla’s 1888 invention. I do wonder what the Tesla Roadster and Model S would be like if Nikola Tesla hadn’t invented AC motors?

Also driving to and attending the event were around 24 Tesla Model S and 2 Tesla Roadsters (one of those being ours). All of the Tesla owners were from the mid Atlantic region and are helping to raise some of the $30 million that is needed to get the Tesla Science Centre up and running. Many of the Tesla owners showing their cars had arrived early in the morning to help with the grounds cleanup – raking leaves and cutting back overgrown bushes. The event, that was open to the public, had at least 400 people sign up to attend and there were walk ins too. There were just people everywhere! The event consisted of talks and tours of the centre and of course the showing of the Tesla Electric Cars. The people that were there were very interested in all things Tesla, and very interested in the cars. We were surrounded with people as soon as we arrived. Lots of questions were asked about the cars. These were different questions to the usual Green Events that we go to though. These were more technical and more about how the cars work. I’d like to think that they were more like the questions that Nikola Tesla would have asked.

Elon Musk of Tesla Motors has promised to donate $1 million to the Science Centre as well as a Supercharger.

You can read what is happening and what the future holds for Nikola Tesla’s Laboratory here http://www.teslasciencecenter.org