The Laboratory Built for Lightning

Name: The Laboratory Built for Lightning
Genre: Documentary

Tesla follows the logic of his remote-controlled boat west, building a Colorado station where the planet itself becomes part of the circuit.

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Transcript

In 1899, Tesla ran electrical experiments at a station in Colorado Springs.
In New York, Tesla’s remote-controlled boat was demonstrated in 1898.
Remote control led to a larger ambition: sending power without wires.
Inside, the apparatus pushed past ordinary scale as instruments responded.
Tesla’s Colorado Springs stay lasted half a year.
At the station, a wireless operator worked beside Tesla’s electrical apparatus.
The receiver is responding before the next adjustment.
The apparatus reached into the earth, turning the ground into part of the circuit.
Tesla recorded the work in an English-language diary kept for personal use.
The diary remained unpublished and unknown to the public.
For Tesla, each machine was also a question about what the planet could carry.
As receivers took over, Tesla turned toward signals he linked to Mars.
In 1901, Tesla claimed to receive radio communications from Mars.
Tesla’s Mars claim was broadly reported in the press.
In 1915, Tesla said his patent circuits were immune to static, interference, and nearby lightning.
Scientists showed little serious interest in the alleged communications from Mars.
But the private Colorado record preserved the pre-legend moment.

Tesla's private Colorado Springs diary was about to record the three taps that he would interpret as a message from Mars.

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