05/01/2015
“TIME Magazine featured Tesla on its cover for his 75th birthday, in 1931, and Einstein praised him as “an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents.” Later that year, Tesla announced that he was on the verge of discovering an entirely new source of energy, and when the press asked him to describe it, his reply was, “The idea first came upon me as a tremendous shock... I can only say at this time that it will come from an entirely new and unsuspected source.”
The following year, the Pierce-Arrow automobile manufacturer and George Westinghouse commissioned Tesla to develop an electric motor to power a car. The motor he built measured a mere 40 inches long and 30 inches across, and produced about 80 horsepower. Under the hood was the engine: a small, 12-volt storage battery and two thick wires that went from the motor to the dashboard.
Tesla connected the wires to a small black box, which he had built the week before with components he bought from a local radio shop. “We now have power,” he said. This mysterious device was used to rigorously test the car for eight days, reaching speeds of 90 Mph. He let nobody inspect the box, and cryptically said that it taps into a “mysterious radiation which comes out of the aether,” and that the energy is available in “limitless quantities.” The public responded superstitiously with charges of “black magic” and alliances with sinister forces of the universe. Affronted, he took his black box back with him to New York City and spoke nothing further of it.”
By making two remarkable electric cars and...