100 years after Tesla, wireless electricity is "invented"

[skunk]

A cordless future for electricity? (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/02/wireless.electricity/index.html)

Let's hope we see [Tesla's] tech coming out soon as it has enormous potential to help life, rather than destroy it like the US government has done with his patents.

At least the article mentions his name, that's a huge step in the right direction.

Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year.

That's the prediction of Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, a company that's able to power light bulbs using wireless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket.

WiTricity's version of wireless electricity -- which converts power into a magnetic field and sends it sailing through the air at a particular frequency -- still needs to be refined a bit, he said, but should be commercially available soon.

Giler, whose company is a spinoff of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology research group, says wireless electricity has the potential to cut the need for power cords and throw-away batteries.

"Five years from now, this will seem completely normal," he said.

"The biggest effect of wireless power is attacking that huge energy wasting that goes on where people buy disposable batteries," he said.

Eric Giler demos wireless electricity (http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_giler_demos_wireless_electricity.html?CNN=YES )

It also will make electric cars more attractive to consumers, he said, because they will be able to power up their vehicles simply by driving into a garage that's fitted with a wireless power mat.

Electric cars are "absolutely gorgeous," he added, "but does anyone really want to plug them in?"

Ideas about wireless electricity have been floating around the world of technology for more than a century. Nikola Tesla started toying with the ability to send electricity through the air in the 1890s. Since then, though, making wireless electricity technology safe and cheap enough to put on the market has been an arduous task for researchers.

Engineers have developed several ways to convert electricity into something that's safe to send through the air without a wire. Some of their technologies are available on commercial scales, but they have some limits.

Low-level power

One set of researchers is able to send power over long distances but in very small amounts.

For example, in 2003, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, company called Powercast used radio waves to light a low-power LED bulb that was 1.5 miles from its power source, said Harry Ostaffe, spokesman for the company.

Now, Powercast's technology is used in office buildings to power temperature sensors that regulate air conditioning systems and in other low-power applications. The company also has sold wireless artificial Christmas trees strung with LED lights for about $400, Ostaffe said.

But radio waves can't transfer the larger amounts of electricity needed to power laptops or mobile phones, he said.

Power pads

Another type of wireless electricity technology can send large amounts of power over very small distances, often not more than a few centimeters.

Such technology is available today, but only in minimal ways. Think, for instance, about electric toothbrushes that sit on charging cradles but don't actually plug in.

One problem with the high-power, small-distance idea is that each device requires its own charging pad, and consumers hate that, said Menno Treffers, chairman of the steering group at the Wireless Power Consortium. The group formed in late 2008 to promote standardization of the technology.

Treffers said consumers soon should be able to buy one power pad that would charge all of their electronic devices. It might look like a placemat, and cell phones, remote controls and appliances would charge automatically when they're placed on the pad.

"The key reason to do it is convenience, because if you want to get rid of all the different power supplies, there are other ways that are cheaper," he said.

The pads, which would rely on electrical sockets as their initial sources of power, also would be more energy efficient than plugging all of the devices into power sockets directly, he said. The pads would shut off automatically when a device has finished charging and are about 70 percent to 90 percent as efficient as transferring power through a wire, he said.

Wire-free chargers for a single item are relatively cheap: about $10 to build, he said. But it's unclear how much pads that could power a living room worth of equipment would cost, he said.

'Magnetically coupled resonance'

Ultimately, Giler's group from MIT wants to combine the best of both worlds: large amounts of power sent over long distances.

Their technology is called "magnetically coupled resonance," and it basically sends a magnetic field through the air at a specific frequency that an an enabled phone or TV can pick up and turn back into electricity. It works kind of like sound. Think about how an opera singer can break a wine glass if he sings at just the right frequency.

Adding the technology to cell phones, mp3 players and other devices should not increase their cost much, he said.

Despite Giler's optimism, there are some doubts about magnetically coupled resonance.

Treffers said there may be health risks associated with the magnetic fields created in the MIT process. Giler said the technology would produce magnetic fields that are "about the same density as the earth's magnetic field."

He said wireless electricity has many environmental benefits. Companies make about 40 billion disposable batteries each year, he said, and wireless electricity could do away with that.

The biggest barrier to the technology's adoption, he said, is that people just aren't familiar with the idea.

[Cogburn]

OMG BUT THE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES INTERFERE WITH YOUR BRAIN!

DO NOT USE POWER OVER WIFI OR CFLs!

YOU WILL KILL YOUR FAMILY!!!!

[Bitchkoma]

It gives me lovely, sexy dreams.

[Snow Crash]

OMG BUT THE ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES INTERFERE WITH YOUR BRAIN!

DO NOT USE POWER OVER WIFI OR CFLs!

YOU WILL KILL YOUR FAMILY!!!!


Plus they have WMDs.

Let's invade Massachusetts.

[Martian Exile]

Well at least the cancer doctors will make a fortune off of this.

[lala]

kiwi reckons supreme court took patent for wireless off marconi and gave to tesla just recently.....? :jaw: :) :)

[mojo]

go to CIA foi reading room and type in tesla in search engine, some really cool stuff also some good stuff in the fbi reading room too, though you'd imagine much of it is cover up after they ripped off all his files from his safe.

[skunk]

Bump for Tesla.

[Red Skare]

My brother and I played around a lot with wireless electricity, its cool stuff.
R617vPlqinI

[Red Skare]

But im not sure what is worse, the lack of recognition that Tesla gets from his inventions or the way people (who obviously have no idea what they are talking about) tie his inventions to their green alternative energy bullshit.

[lala]

The relationship between Tesla and Marconi is a fascinating study!



While Tesla has become a popular figure to Revisionist Scientists in the last ten years, Marconi is still largely unknown and seen as an usurper of Tesla's inventions. Yet Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), was a brilliant scientist, and, in fact, Tesla's close friend.

In the esoteric writing of the Latin countries, Marconi has achieved a near legendary status, much as Tesla has recently in the United States. But most Tesla students are unaware that Marconi was supposed to have founded a secret high-tech city in the remote southern jungles of Venezuela.

The great Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi was a former student of Tesla's. Marconi studied radio transmission theory with Tesla and made his first radio transmission in 1895. Marconi was fascinated by the transmission of power, and in 1896 received a British patent and sent a signal nine miles across the Bristol Channel. In 1899 he successfully setup a wireless station to communicate with a French station 31 miles across the English Channel.

It was thought that the curve of the earth's surface would limit radio transmission to 200 miles at the most When, on December 11, 1901, Marconi transmitted a signal from Poldhu, Cornwall, to St. John's Newfoundland, 2000 miles away, he created a major sensation.



For this Marconi replaced the wire receiver with a coherer, a glass tube filled with iron filings, which could conduct radio waves.


http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/esp_tesla_35.htm

[Red Skare]

There were many before Tesla and Marconi, to say either invented the radio would be akin to saying Bill gates and steve jobs invented the computer. Did they invent the computer? No, but their contributions did have a great influence on how the computer is used today.

[Cogburn]

Faraday and Maxwell, baby.

[Red Skare]

Mahlon Loomis and Nathan Stubblefield

[Cogburn]

Pinky and the Brain

http://www.personal.psu.edu/tcr5051/blogs/tentatively_untitled/pinky_and_the_brain.jpg

[WITCH HUNT]

Bump for Tesla.


Bumped for Skunk.

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/a-special-dar-39.jpg

[DocVelocity]

The relationship between Tesla and Marconi can be summed up in one true anecdote.

On the morning that Marconi successfully transmitted the letter "S" across the North Atlantic, one of Tesla's assistants broke the news to Tesla, expecting the genius inventer to be pissed off. At the time, Tesla was fucking DECADES beyond wireless communications, having already mastered radio remote-control and radio-jamming.

When Marconi's achievement was reported to him, Tesla seemed oddly pleased. He said, "Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using 17 of my patents."

Which was entirely true. Marconi didn't actually INVENT anything to facilitate his transatlantic transmission. He was merely using Tesla technology.

In fact, when the debate erupted as to WHO was the "Father of Radio" (between Tesla, Marconi, and a few other claimants), the U.S. Supreme Court found (in September of 1943) that all evidence clearly indicated that Nikola Tesla was the true Father of Radio. Unfortunately, Tesla didn't live to hear this decision, as he died a few months earlier in 1943.

Which flies in the face of historical revisionism over the decades. Tesla has been relegated to the classification of "deranged wizard," while students have been erroneously taught that Marconi was the Father of Radio. The fucking annual radio broadcasting award in the USA is even called The Marconi Award, rather than The Tesla Award.

Fact is, even the Supreme Court has acknowledged that Tesla INVENTED all technology required to accomplish wireless radio communications. Not Marconi.


— Doc Velocity

[TheSyndicate]

6248

[DocVelocity]

There were many before Tesla and Marconi, to say either invented the radio would be akin to saying Bill gates and steve jobs invented the computer. Did they invent the computer? No, but their contributions did have a great influence on how the computer is used today.

Actually, no, in the field of Radio Technology, there was NOBODY before Nikola Tesla. He invented the alternating current induction generator (patenting AC electricity), he invented all components of radio transmission and reception (patented them all), invented wireless remote control servo motors (and patented them), invented actual ROBOTS that could be remote-controlled by multi-channel radio signals (patented them and gave a public demonstration of the technology at Madison Square Garden), and invented military-grade radio-jamming technology (and patented it)... And did ALL of this before the beginning of the 20th Century.

The U.S. Supreme Court considered all the claims of who was FIRST to invent radio technology, and they found in September of 1943 that Nikola Tesla was the FATHER of Radio. Nobody else.

To say that Marconi was the father of radio would be like saying Evel Knievel was the Father of Motorcycle Technology because he jumped the fountain at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. No, Evel Knievel just performed at STUNT using EXISTING motorcycle technology, he didn't make motorcycles possible.

Same with Marconi. He performed a STUNT using EXISTING Tesla Technology.

— Doc Velocity

[DocVelocity]

There were many before Tesla and Marconi, to say either invented the radio would be akin to saying Bill gates and steve jobs invented the computer. Did they invent the computer? No, but their contributions did have a great influence on how the computer is used today.

Incidentally, Bill Gates didn't invent anything. He was and is an opportunist who made his fortune ripping off OTHER people's ideas. Steve Jobs was a true genius and innovator in computer technology and its applications.

However, even Steve Jobs and OTHER computer engineers TODAY keep running into an interesting little problem when they're attempting to patent their "new ideas"... It's when they try to patent innovative "logic gateways" in solid state circuitry. There are THOUSANDS of these gateways in any modern computer. See, it seems somebody ALREADY PATENTED logic gateway technology a LONG, LONG time ago.

It was Nikola Tesla. He INVENTED solid state logic gateways (and patented them) back in 1908.

— Doc Velocity

[DocVelocity]

The new cordless instruments and devices will require you to purchase a powerful electromagnetic generating "hub" that will be located at a central point in your home and radiate a cycling electromagnetic field to power the devices around your house.

This isn't new technology, of course. Tesla ran his whole fucking laboratory off of a central electromagnetic field generator.

Such devices already exist, you may have noticed.

Self-charging electric toothbrushes have used this tech for many years. There's no direct electrical contacts between the charging base and the toothbrush, for safety reasons. Instead, a miniature electromagnetic generator in the base produces a cycling magnetic field that activates a magnetic Faraday charger inside the toothbrush, which charges the battery in the handle.

Simple as shit. The "new" technology just increases the power of the electromagnetic "hub" and extends the cycling magnetic field to encompass an entire home. Any device within the home field will, thus, charge itself without an electrical cord or contact.

The only reason we haven't seen this technology developed before is because THEY haven't figured out a way to METER and BILL US for electricity use. I mean, as soon as this tech hits the market, it's going to be hacked — you can bet your ass that somebody will figure out how to amplify the field to encompass TWO houses, THREE houses, or an ENTIRE BLOCK from a single electromagnetic hub.

Better yet, somebody will invent a way to TAP electromagnetic energy off of somebody ELSE'S hub. I already understand how to that, and you do, too, if you think about it.

Simply power a secondary hub off of a host hub, right?

How do you BILL the customer for electrical use if you don't know where the electricity is GOING, right?

— Doc Velocity

[Cogburn]

Shows you how long it's been since ol' Doc has been to Best Buy.

http://www.mrgadget.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/uniden_wireless_power_pad.png

[DocVelocity]

Shows you how long it's been since ol' Doc has been to Best Buy.

http://www.mrgadget.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/uniden_wireless_power_pad.png

Try LISTENING before you spew... I JUST SAID the technology already exists and has been used in small devices for decades. The ULTIMATE APPLICATION, dumbass, is to power an ENTIRE HOME from a central electromagnetic field hub.

The simple device you have pictured here is STILL RELIANT upon an individual power base per device. In the ultimate application, you won't return the device to its little "wireless" base. That's OLD technology.

— Doc Velocity

[Red Skare]

Yeah i know tesla's shit, i have made tons of it.
http://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad139/Zaiger45/f2367352.jpghttp://i929.photobucket.com/albums/ad139/Zaiger45/n1536368442_234776_8339621.jpg

So what about Heinrich Hertz? And Faraday with his telegraph messages? Tesla was a great man but he did not invent the radio. Carles Peirce had logic gateways figgured out as well as Strowger, Strowger even beat tesla to the patent. Im a huge tesla fan but the amount of bullshit that surrounds him is disgusting. Next someone is going to pipe in about how we would all have "free green energy" from the fucking tesla coil

[Red Skare]

Better yet, somebody will invent a way to TAP electromagnetic energy off of somebody ELSE'S hub. I already understand how to that, and you do, too, if you think about it.

Simply power a secondary hub off of a host hub, right?

How do you BILL the customer for electrical use if you don't know where the electricity is GOING, right?

— Doc Velocity

It can be done, but there would probably be a heavy fine. Just like you can steal your neighbors gas and cable. Easy to get away with but you get finned far out the ass if you are caught.

[Cogburn]

Try LISTENING before you spew... I JUST SAID the technology already exists and has been used in small devices for decades. The ULTIMATE APPLICATION, dumbass, is to power an ENTIRE HOME from a central electromagnetic field hub.

— Doc Velocity
You sure did. Which is why I posted that.

Next up, Doc states that the sky is, in fact, blue.

... and ... um ... the ultimate application was to power the entire world.

http://www.teslasociety.com/pictures/wardenc.jpg

[DocVelocity]

So what about Heinrich Hertz? And Faraday with his telegraph messages? Tesla was a great man but he did not invent the radio. Carles Peirce had logic gateways figgured out as well as Strowger, Strowger even beat tesla to the patent. Im a huge tesla fan but the amount of bullshit that surrounds him is disgusting. Next someone is going to pipe in about how we would all have "free green energy" from the fucking tesla coil

Why isn't Strowger listed as the patent-holder on logic gateways? And Faraday was a comparative simpleton who did not work in true wireless energy, as did Tesla.

You may not respect Tesla's incredible accomplishments because Edison and his corporate descendants continued to DISCREDIT Tesla for fucking decades. Because Tesla was a fucking GENIUS, and Thomas Edison was a an ignorant GRUNT.

It's easy to SAY that Tesla's legacy is all fabricated, particularly when you haven't studied the man's history; but the fact is that Tesla DID invent radio technology, he DID invent alternating current induction generators and relays, he DID invent fluorescent lighting technology, and much, much more.

Which left the accomplishments of others in the fucking dust.

The U.S. Supreme Court considered all the claims in the 1940s and determined after months of research and deliberation that Tesla was the FATHER of Radio. Look it up.

— Doc Velocity

[DocVelocity]

... and ... um ... the ultimate application was to power the entire world.

No, Tesla's "ultimate application" was to power radio-remote-controlled fleets and ground-based ROBOTS for military purposes. Because he demonstrated that technology to U.S. military brass in 1898. They were, frankly, FRIGHTENED by the possibilities.

Tesla was thinking about WEAPONS technology. His fucking most infamous statement about wireless resonant energy technology was that he would be able to "split the world like a boy splitting an apple with a hatchet." Which scared the FUCK out of everyone who was likely to finance his research.

Tesla learned, after years of attempting long-range wireless energy transmission, a very sad truth... His technology would only work within a matrix of CONSTANT DENSITY. That is to say, his "wireless energy" would never work within an atmosphere of myriad variable densities. Nor would it work through the surface of the earth, as he planned, for the same reason — because the Earth is NOT of constant density through-and-through.

— Doc Velocity

[Red Skare]

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=0447918.PN.&OS=PN/0447918&RS=PN/0447918

Tesla did not come out with his patent with logic gates until 1898. I do respect Tesla's accomplishments and he invented many things of he did not invent everything people claim. And im not saying his history was fabricated just misrepresented at times. I had to study the FUCK out of Tesla to make replicas of some of his shit.

[Red Skare]

You sure did. Which is why I posted that.

Next up, Doc states that the sky is, in fact, blue.

... and ... um ... the ultimate application was to power the entire world.

http://www.teslasociety.com/pictures/wardenc.jpg


The Tesla coil is a method of TRANSMISSION not GENERATION. Fuck, I will build you one and you try to transmit power with it without plugging it in

[Cogburn]

Hey, let's argue Tesla's intentions beyond what he actually was able to accomplish.

That's always a good place to start when trying to define a man's contribution to history.

[Cogburn]

The Tesla coil is a method of TRANSMISSION not GENERATION. Fuck, I will build you one and you try to transmit power with it without plugging it in

No one said anything about either.

That tower was the focal point of a static electric grid created by... oh fuck it, nevermind.

[Red Skare]

I don't want to argue with you guys. Doc, Cog , give us a hug

[DocVelocity]

he did not invent everything people claim. And im not saying his history was fabricated just misrepresented at times. I had to study the FUCK out of Tesla to make replicas of some of his shit.

His fucking Tesla Coil is SIMPLE. The schematics have been out there for many decades, and I know dozens of people who have manufactured the Tesla Coil. It's a toy. A very dangerous fucking toy, but just a toy. A Noise-and-Light show, but not much else.

Now, I don't know ANYONE who has successfully manufactured a high-power cycling electromagnetic field generator, which Tesla used to power his fucking laboratory in New York — and THAT technology was witnessed and reported upon by MANY sources...including Samuel Clemens, a close friend of Tesla's.

And I'm not seeing ANY record of Strowger PATENTING logic gateway technology, as did Tesla.

Look, I haven't reported on ANYTHING Tesla invented that he didn't invent. I know he DID tamper with resonant energy X-ray generating technology long before anyone else (he called it "invisible light"). I know he DID invent fluorescent lighting DECADES before the technology was finally commercially implemented. I know he DID invent a fucking particle-directed energy emitter (particle beam) that was ATOMIZING some of the hardest known elements back in the 1890s.

The TRUTH of Tesla's accomplishment BLOW AWAY the legends, actually.

And, I know he had failures, too. Many failures. Such as his molten-copper-purifying technique, which was a complete fail.




— Doc Velocity

[DocVelocity]

I don't want to argue with you guys. Doc, Cog , give us a hug

Eh, I'm not arguing, just clarifying.

Yeah, I've seen and heard the fucking bullshit attributed to Tesla — such as the matter replicator and other bullshit shown in the movie "The Prestige" (which was cool as shit, but wholly fictitious)...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpU93XJic7M

I do, however, take exception when people UNDERRATE Tesla's accomplishments and his fucking impact on history. Which is fucking incalculable, inasmuch as practically every aspect of our lives is touched by his genius today.

— Doc Velocity

[skunk]

Why haven't any of you crazy fucknuts built a tesla tower yet?

[Red Skare]

Why haven't any of you crazy fucknuts built a tesla tower yet?

I have

[Red Skare]

His fucking Tesla Coil is SIMPLE. The schematics have been out there for many decades, and I know dozens of people who have manufactured the Tesla Coil. It's a toy. A very dangerous fucking toy, but just a toy. A Noise-and-Light show, but not much else.


They don't have to be dangerous, i have built ones that give a 3 foot arc that you can touch all day long but they are only a toy if you don't know what to do with them.
This is a fucking toy
http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/105408984#pm_cmp=vid_OEV_P_P

[skunk]

I have

Is it still in use? Does it power your house, and if so why not?

[skunk]

No one said anything about either.

That tower was the focal point of a static electric grid created by... oh fuck it, nevermind.

I know a dude who's building a "static collector" of sorts...:p

[Red Skare]

Is it still in use? Does it power your house, and if so why not?

Once again, the tesla coild does not generate electricity it only transmits it.

[skunk]

Yes it collects it from the static charge/"vibration" of the earth, which is recharged after every lightning strike.

[skunk]

Well I guess what this dude is building isn't called a tesla coil, tesla generator is probably more apt.

[Red Skare]

Well I guess what this dude is building isn't called a tesla coil, tesla generator is probably more apt.

sounds like someone is just adding "tesla" onto the name.

[DocVelocity]

Why haven't any of you crazy fucknuts built a tesla tower yet?

A Tesla Tower? You mean like the Wardenclyffe Tower on Long Island?

Simple... Because it would cost you fucking $200 Million to build one today. But FIRST you'd have to get it licensed, which would be about as difficult as getting a license to build a fucking nuclear particle accelerator.

THEN you'd have to build your own private nuclear plant to POWER the motherfucker.

Besides, a Wardenclyffe Tower project wouldn't be practical, as Tesla himself discovered. It would only work if the electromagnetic matrix of the Earth was CONSTANT. Nothing about the Earth is constant — atmospheric density is wildly variable; Earth's crust, mantle and core are all of radically different densities; and the magnetic field of the Earth is in a constant state of flux. Your power output would be constantly fluctuating, your customers many miles away would experience brownouts and blackouts ALL THE TIME.

Now, on a much smaller scale, you could very easily build a Tesla Coil, a fucking resonant transformer, and millions of people have in fact done so in their fucking garages. Go look on YouTube.

I haven't built one myself... Once you spend all the time and money building one, all you have is a big, impractical noise and light show.

But I know a bunch of people in the field of robotics who build shit like that all the time — including electrostatic lifting devices.


— Doc Velocity

[DocVelocity]

Well I guess what this dude is building isn't called a tesla coil, tesla generator is probably more apt.

A Tesla Coil is called a resonant transformer... It amplifies electrical output. There are other coils that just produce a static electric field, and those are electrostatic generators. But none of them ACTUALLY PRODUCE electricity — you still have to plug the motherfuckers into an existing electrical source.

Now, Tesla could PRODUCE electricity, as well, and he did so when he designed and built the first hydroelectric alternating current turbine generator at Niagara, which powered the city of Buffalo, New York. They charged the city something like half-a-cent per kilowatt, and it still made a SHITLOAD of money.

— Doc Velocity

[anarch]

Nobody cares about what you have to say.

[DocVelocity]

STFU, Narc.

— Doc Velocity

[Red Skare]

Tesla also patented a meter for his shit, so people could charge for electricity. He may have not been the best business man there ever was but he was no idiot. Ultimately there was going to be satellites that would send solar power to earth to run the fuckin things.

[DocVelocity]

Here was Tesla's problem... He was an antisocial motherfucker. Like any genius, he picked and chose his acquaintances and friends, and he didn't seem to care very much about money; he just knew he needed it. But, you know, money was not the motivating force in Tesla's life. He knew that, by demonstrating miraculous things to important people, he could create a cashflow (intermittent as it was).

OTHER people, like Westinghouse, took advantage of Tesla's disinterest in money. Westinghouse bought up some of Tesla's patents — arguably the most important patents in the history of Mankind — for $50,000. Which was a lot of money in the late 19th Century, but Tesla's technology was worth BILLIONS, even back then. He MADE electricity manageable and available to everyone.

How much is THAT worth? A lot more than $50,000.

Oh, that reminds me of something... You remember the old Walter Tevis novel "The Man Who Fell To Earth"? That's a study, really, of what it would be like for a technologically advanced visitor to a planet with a primitive but intelligent population. The visitor might exploit his technological "toys" in an effort to gather enough money and resources for more formidable projects.

That's the Tesla Story. Was Tesla a fallen angel? Good fucking question.

Interestingly, David Bowie starred as the alien in the film version of "The Man Who Fell To Earth," and he was also cast as Nikola Tesla in the more recent film "The Prestige"... Sort of a sci-fi tribute to Tesla.

— Doc Velocity