PRESS CONFERENCE BY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

At a Headquarters press conference this morning, the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to the United Nations, Vladislav Jovanovic, told correspondents that the success of "Sojourner", the radio-controlled robot exploring Mars, which had been designed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (NASA), had been made possible in large part by Nikola Tesla's invention of the remote-controlled robotic boat in 1898. Mr. Tesla was born in Serbia and became a naturalized American citizen.

Also at the press conference today were: the Honorary Chairman of the Tesla Memorial Society, Williams H. Terbo; the Secretary-General of the Society, Ljubo Vujovic; and Marc J. Seifer, author of a recent biography on Nikola Tesla -- "Wizard: the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla".

Highlighting Mr. Tesla's invention, Mr. Terbo, who is the inventor's closest living relative, said the revolutionary concept had been demonstrated at the first Electrical Exposition held in New York's old Madison Square Garden in May 1898. "So the trail truly leads from Tesla in the New York nearly 100 years ago to today on Mars", he said.

Mr. Terbo said the inventor was born of Serbian parents in 1856 in the area on the Austro-Hungary "military frontier" that became Yugoslavia and was now part of Croatia. Educated in Europe, Mr. Tesla worked briefly in Budapest and Paris before coming to the United States in 1884, at the age of 28, to work for Thomas Edison. During his lifetime, he was granted about 700 United States and foreign patents.

Mr. Terbo said the inventor had made basic and significant contributions in more areas of emerging technologies than any other inventor, but was almost forgotten after his death on 7 January 1943. However, over the past two decades, with the support of organizations such as the Tesla Memorial Society, there had been a renaissance in interest in his work. That interest was further rekindled recently when his seminal work was manifested in the present robotic exploration of Mars.

Mr. Seifer said Mr. Tesla's genius was multi-layered. Realizing that to send power, voice or pictures over the wireless, the system of pulsed frequencies had to be abandoned, Mr. Tesla had designed an entirely new power system and "continuous wave oscillators" to transmit signals. A few years earlier, he had solved the problem of selective tuning when he was working with wireless bulbs. Mr. Tesla's work in wireless had led directly to the development of such inventions as radio guidance systems, the garage door opener, the television remote, television scramblers and the cellular telephone.

Mr. Seifer referred to a 1916 Navy document signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Acting Secretary of the Navy, and to a Supreme Court decision on wireless usage as proof that Mr. Tesla's was the primary invention in wireless communication. The inventor, he said, was "the forefather of the technology that led to the robot NASA just landed on Mars".

Mr. Vujovic, Secretary-General of the Tesla Memorial Society in New York and New Jersey, elaborated on Mr. Tesla's achievements and said that "without Tesla's 1898 robot there would be no robotics and no robot on Mars". He said the Serbian people were proud of Nikola Tesla and the contribution of Serbians to humanity and to science.

Asked if the press conference was related to NASA's recent achievement on Mars and if it was intended to emphasize the link between the scientist and that event, Ambassador Jovanovic said they felt it was useful and necessary to remind the public on the importance of Nikola Tesla's invention to today's extraordinary achievements of modern technology in relation to Mars. Mr. Seifer added that Tesla was famous for so many things that people tended to forget that he had made important contributions in so many different technologies. Among them, the idea of robotics was not generally at the top of the list, but it was important because of the emphasis on the exploration of Mars.

Mr. Vujovic told correspondents that the name "Sojourner" was selected by NASA from an international essay competition for students aged eighteen and under. The competition was won by a young lady from Connecticut who had written an essay on Sojourner Truth, a former slave who fought for the abolition of slavery, human rights and women's rights. He was proud that Tesla's robot had been named after that famous American personality.

Referring to a recent journal publication which had photographs and a story about Sojourner on Mars, Mr. Seifer said it was a very important story, and he believed that Tesla's name should be linked to that tremendous achievement.

A correspondent asked why the United Nations was chosen for the press conference. In response, Mr. Vujovic stressed Mr. Tesla's tremendous achievement for humanity and for the cosmos which should be commemorated on a specific day, and 10 July -- Mr. Tesla's birthday -- had been proclaimed as that day in several parts of the United States, including New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Arizona. Part of the reason for today's press conference was to promote Nikola Tesla Day worldwide, because he deserved it. Mr. Terbo added: "Mr. Tesla was a citizen of the world, so he deserved it.

Mr. Seifer said the Nikola Tesla day was a chance for the world to celebrate the life of a great inventor. If each nation could select the life of a national who could be celebrated by an international holiday, that would be another step towards creating a world community. In that context, he felt Mr. Tesla was a good choice.

Yugoslavia Briefing - 3 - 28 August 1997

A correspondent asked Mr. Seifer how he would ensure that his biography would be accessible to a wider audience in the United States. Mr. Seifer said that yesterday he was interviewed on "a ham radio station" which reached audiences all over the world. The book had been reviewed in Scientific American and would be reviewed in November in Technology Review, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It had also received some coverage in The Washington Post and in Publishers Weekly, and it was in the Barnes and Noble Book Catalogue. In addition, the Tesla Society in Colorado Springs, which was associated with the Tesla Memorial Society, also offered it for sale. Stating that the book had been a success, he said 10,000 copies had been printed and there would be a second run, after which it would be published in softcover. It was also available in bookstores.

Mr. Terbo added that Mr. Tesla's life had been a very dramatic one. He was a philosopher, as well as a great inventor. Several movies had been made on his life, and several more were in the works. He was expecting and awaiting a "blockbuster" movie that would bring the inventor's name to the fore. Three prominent directors working in Hollywood and Europe had contracts to create movies on Mr. Tesla. However, moving from the concept of a movie to a finished product was a tortuous trail. He anticipated a movie which would highlight the drama of the inventor's life and his inventions.

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