Image Source: photocollage by stellabelle using public domain image
The FBI has just released all of the information about this seizure plus the entire document cache on Nikola Tesla. You can view the recently released FBI files here: https://vault.fbi.gov/nikola-tesla
Look here to see the Recently Added documents on the FBI website, and Nikola Tesla is among them: https://vault.fbi.gov/recently-added
The Free Thought Project has just published an article that announces the FBI has finally released the documents that it seized from Nikola Tesla in 1943. The FBI's actions regarding seizing Tesla's intellectual property after his death have long been a source of resentment, especially for those interested in his legacy and scientific contributions. It is true that the FBI seized his personal belongings, but it's not well known that these items were shipped to Belgrade in 1952 under mounting pressure from Tesla's nephew, Sava Kosanović. In total, Tesla's belongings fit into 80 trunks that were shipped to Belgrade at that time. Those items are now found in The Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade and it houses the largest collection of Tesla's personal belongings.
Part of the outrage concerning the FBI seizing Tesla's property upon his death was the fact that Tesla was a US citizen. So the fact that the Office of Alien Property was the division that carried out this order makes this seizure one that many viewed with suspicion. Also, it was perfect fodder for conspiracy theorists. What's not clear, though, is whether the FBI handed over absolutely everything to Tesla's nephew. Well, it looks like you can now wade through all the documents yourself now to find the missing puzzle pieces.
Source: YouTube video
One of the most notable documents contained in the FBI seizure is that which pertains to Tesla's death ray invention. Some called it the peace ray.
The death ray used these four methods in theory:
An apparatus for producing manifestations of energy in free air instead of in a high vacuum as in the past.
A mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force.
A means of intensifying and amplifying the force developed by the second mechanism.
A new method for producing a tremendous electrical repelling force. This would be the projector, or gun, of the invention -wikipedia
Image Source: FBI
News of Tesla's death ray first appeared in the New York Times in 1934 and here's an excerpt:
The headline on the front page of "The New York Times" read, "TESLA, AT 78, BARES NEW 'DEATH BEAM.'" The article reported that the new invention "will send concentrated beams of particles through the free air, of such tremendous energy that they will bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 250 miles..." Tesla stated that the death beam would make war impossible by offering every country an "invisible Chinese wall." -Source: http://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/timeline/1934-tesla-moves-hotel-new-yorker
About Tesla's Death
Tesla was found dead on January 8, 1943 by his maid. He was found in his room, #3327, at the Hotel New Yorker in NYC at the time of his death. The medical examiner who did the autopsy concluded that Tesla had died of coronary thrombosis. On January 9th, after the FBI learned of his death, they ordered the US Office of Alien Property to seize all of Tesla's belongings from his hotel room and other places in New York City. These items were then transported to the Manhattan Storage and Warehouse Company under OAP seal.
Many people are only vaguely aware of Tesla's inventions and scientific discoveries. We learn that because the FBI considered him a threat, information about him in mainstream USA was suppressed. This is evidenced by the school system leaving him out of its history books. There are other reasons he has been omitted, too. Is it naive of me to think that now, after the FBI has released its Tesla files to the public, the school system will add him into its history books?
Well, first the teachers will need to be educated. It's hard to teach a subject of which you know nothing about.
And a quote from Tesla to end with:
The memories of my youth and even of earliest childhood are very vivid, and it seems to me that my character began to develop a little sooner than is the case with most people. As a very small boy I was weak and vacillating, and made many childish resolves, only to break them. But when I was eight years old I read “The Son of Aba,” a Serbian translation of a Hungarian writer, Josika, whose lessons are similar to those of Lew Wallace in Ben Hur. This book awakened my will power. I began to practice self-control, subdued many of my wishes, and resolved to keep every promise I ever made, whether to myself or to anyone else. The members of my family were not long in learning that if I promised a thing I would do it. -Tesla Universe
