by John J. O’Neill, published 1944
"gravity" has only one reference in the index: p. 247-248
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Sixteen
It was during a period when he was must busily occupied with his experiments with high-frequency and high-potential currents, from 1892 to 1894, that Tesla had found time to give serious thought to yet another type of problem, matter and energy; and from it he derived what he described as a new physical principle. This he developed to the point at which he was able to propound a new dynamic theory of gravity.
While this principle guided much of his thinking, he did not make any announcements concerning it until close to the end of his life. Such disclosures as have been made, however, leave this much obvious: Tesla considered his theory wholly inconsistent with the theory of relativity, and with the modern theory concerning structure of the atom and the mutual interconversion of matter and energy. Tesla continuously attacked the validity of Einstein’s work; and until two or three years before his death, he ridiculed the belief that energy could be obtained from matter.
These antagonisms were most unfortunate, as they placed Tesla in conflict with modern experimental physics. This was totally unnecessary, for Tesla could undoubtedly have adhered to his principle and interpreted it so that it was not inconsistent with the modern theories The antagonism was probably attributable to psychological factors rather than scientific inconsistencies.
The only statement Tesla has made concerning his principle and his theory is that contained in the lecture he prepared for delivery before the Institute of Immigrant Welfare (May 12, 1938). In this he stated:
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During the succeeding two years [1893 and 1894] of intense concentration I was fortunate enough to make two far reaching discoveries. The first was a dynamic theory of gravity, which I have worked out in all details and hope to give to the world very soon. It explains the causes of this force and the motions of heavenly bodies under its influence so satisfactorily that it will put an end to idle speculation and false conceptions, as that of curved space. . . .
Only the existence of a field of force can account for the motions of the bodies as observed, and its assumption dispenses with space curvature. All literature on this subject is futile and destined to oblivion. So are all attempts to explain the workings of the universe without recognizing the existence of the ether and the indispensable function it plays in the phenomena.
My second discovery was of a physical truth of the greatest importance. As I have searched the entire scientific records in more than a half dozen languages for a long time without finding the least anticipation, I consider myself the original discoverer of this truth, which can be expressed by the statement: There is no energy in matter other than that received from the environment.
On my 79th birthday, I made a brief reference to it, but its meaning and significance have become clearer to me since th en. It applies rigorously to molecules and atoms as well as to the largest heavenly bodies, and to all matter in the universe in any phase of its existence from its very formation to its ultimate disintegration.
Tesla’s mind was inflexible in the matter of his attitude toward relativity and the modern theories. Had he published his principle and theory of gravity at the beginning of the century it would, without doubt, have then received very serious consideration and perhaps general acceptance, although it is difficult to make an intelligent surmise without knowledge of his postulates. If published, it might have had some influence on Einstein’s thinking. The field of force which Tesla mentions as being necessary to explain the movements of the planets might have been his contribution to eliminating the need for the ether which was accomplished by Einstein’s theory. The two theories might have been merged, in which case there probably would have resulted a harmonious development of the thinking of the two geniuses.
In this latter case Tesla could very well have shaped his think
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ing to see a consistency between his theory that there is no energy in matter other than that received from its environment, and the modern viewpoint that all matter consists of energy into which it is convertible; for when matter is converted to energy, the energy returns to the environment from whence it came when the particles were formed.
There appears to be a frustration involved in Tesla’s attitude which could have been resolved by early publication of his theory. If this had taken place, Tesla’s powerful intellect and his strange ability to solve problems would have been brought to bear on the problems of atomic physics and he, in turn, would have received tremendous benefits from the application of the newer knowledge in the fields in which he was supreme.
Tesla’s ability to generate tremendously high voltages would have been of great assistance in the task of “smashing the atom.” Other scientists, even today, are struggling to produce currents with a potential of 5,000,000 volts, whereas Tesla, forty years ago, had generated potentials of 135,000,000 volts.
The inconsistency between Tesla’s principle and the picture of the atom consisting of a small complex nucleus surrounded by planetary electrons -- which inconsistency was more existent in Tesla’s mind than in Nature -- caused him to develop an antagonism to all scientific developments which called for a picture that differed from the billiard-ball type of atom in vogue in the eighteen-eighties. To him, a smashed atom was like a smashed billiard ball.
The electron, however, had a real existence to Tesla. He accepted it as a kind of sub-atom, a fourth state of matter, as described by Sir William Crooks, who discovered it. Tesla visualized it as associated with but not a part of the atom. The electric charge it carried was entirely distinct from the electron. Electricity, to him, was a fluid much more highly attenuated than any known form of matter, and with highly specific properties of its own for which it was not dependent upon matter. The charge on the electron was due to a surface layer of electricity covering it,
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and it could receive many layers, giving it multiple charges, all of which could be dissipated. These statements were similar to those which he had published a half-century before.
According to the modern theory, on the other hand, the electrical nature of the electron, described as its charge, is a characteristic inherent in the nature of the energy crystallized about a point which gives the electron its existence, and the electron is one of the particles, or units of energy, of which the atom is composed.
In discussing articles by scientists in the field of atomic physics, Tesla would register his protests that their theories were untenable and the claims unfounded; and he was particularly emphatic when experiments in which energy emissions from atoms were recorded.
“Atomic power is an illusion,” he frequently declared. He furnished several written statements in which he said that with his currents of several million volts he had, countless times, smashed uncounted billions of atoms -- and he knew that no emission of energy accompanied the process.
On one occasion Tesla took me to task rather severely for my failure to publish his statements. I replied: “I withheld them in order to protect your reputation. You are making too great a virtue of consistency. It is not necessary that you adhere to the theories you held as a youth, and I am convinced that deep down in your heart you hold newer theories that are in harmony with scientific developments in other fields, but because you have disagreed with, and attacked, some modern theories you feel you must be consistent and attack them all I am convinced that in the development of your death-ray device your thinking was along the lines of the modern theory of the structure of the atom and the nature of matter and energy.”
Tesla thereupon let me know in no uncertain terms that he held very definite ideas concerning efforts on the part of others to do his thinking for him. This conversation took place about 1935; and I did not hear from him for many months. I observed,
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however, that in his later conversations he was much less dogmatic concerning modern theories, and a few years later he stated that he was planning an apparatus which would make possible a definite testing of the modern theory of atomic structure with the expectation that his new power system and energy beam would release atomic energy more effectively than any device then in use by physicists.
Having endorsed, finally, the belief that man will be able to smash, transmute, create or destroy atoms, and control vast amounts of energy, he waxed poetic on the subject. He extended man’s control over atoms and energy to a cosmic scale, and saw him shaping the universe according to our desires. In an unpublished article, entitled “Man’s Greatest Achievement,” he wrote:
There manifests itself in the fully developed being -- Man -- a desire mysterious, inscrutable and irresistible: to imitate nature, to create, to work himself the wonders he perceives. Inspired to this task he searches, discovers and invents, designs and constructs, and covers with monuments of beauty, grandeur and awe, the star of his birth. He descends into the bowels of the globe to bring forth its hidden treasures and to unlock its immense imprisoned energies for his use. He invades the dark depths of the ocean and the azure regions of the sky. He peers into the innermost nooks and recesses of molecular structure and lays bare to his gaze worlds infinitely remote. He subdues and puts to his service the fierce, devastating spark of Prometheus, the titanic forces of the waterfall, the wind and the tide. He tames the thundering bolt of Jove and annihilates time and space. He makes the great Sun itself his obedient toiling slave. Such is his power and might that the heavens reverberate and the whole earth trembles by the mere sound of his voice.
What has the future in store for this strange being, born of a breath, of perishable tissue, yet immortal with his powers fearful and divine? What magic will be wrought by him in the end? What is to be his greatest deed, his crowning achievement?
Long ago he recognized that all perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or a tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, primary substance, the Akasa or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life-giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never ending cycles, all things and phenomena. The primary substance thrown
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into infinitesimal whirls of prodigious velocity, becomes gross matter; the force subsiding, the motion ceases and matter disappears, reverting to the primary substance.
Can Man control this grandest, most awe-inspiring of all processes in nature? Can he harness her inexhaustible energies to perform all their functions at his bidding, more still cause them to operate simply by the force of his will?
If he could do this, he would have powers almost unlimited and supernatural. At his command, with but a slight effort on his part old worlds would disappear and new ones of his planning would spring into being. He could fix, solidify and preserve the ethereal shapes of his imagining, the fleeting visions of his dreams. He could express all the creations of his mind on any scale, in forms concrete and imperishable. He could alter the size of this planet, control its seasons, guide it along a path he might choose through the depths of the Universe. He could cause planets to collide and produce his suns and stars, his heat and light. He could originate and develop life in all its infinite forms.
To create and to annihilate material substance, cause it to aggregate in forms according to his desire, would be the supreme manifestation of the power of Man’s mind, his most complete triumph over the physical world, his crowning achievement, which would lace him beside his Creator, make him fulfill his ultimate destiny.
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