Editing Nikola Tesla (section)

=== Colorado Springs ===
{{See also|Tesla Experimental Station|Magnifying transmitter|Colorado Springs Notes, 1899–1900}}
[[File:Tesla Colorado.jpg|thumb|upright|Tesla's Colorado Springs laboratory]]

To further study the conductive nature of low-pressure air, Tesla set up an [[Tesla Experimental Station|experimental station]] at high altitude in Colorado Springs during 1899.{{sfn|Cheney|Uth|Glenn|1999|p=92}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html|title=PBS: Tesla – Master of Lightning: Colorado Springs|website=[[pbs.org]]|access-date=6 September 2017|archive-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707120257/http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_colspr.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=264}}<ref name="Wireless Telegraphy 2002, p. 109">''Nikola Tesla On His Work With Alternating Currents and Their Application to Wireless Telegraphy, Telephony, and Transmission of Power'', Leland I. Anderson, 21st Century Books, 2002, p. 109, {{ISBN|1-893817-01-6}}.</ref> <!--primarily because of the frequent thunderstorms, the high altitude (where the air, being at a lower pressure, had a lower dielectric breakdown strength, making it easier to ionize), and the dryness of the air (minimizing leakage of electric charge through insulators).--> There he could safely operate much larger coils than in the cramped confines of his New York lab, and an associate had made an arrangement for the El Paso Electric Light Company to supply alternating current free of charge.<ref name="Wireless Telegraphy 2002, p. 109" /> To fund his experiments, he convinced [[John Jacob Astor IV]] to invest $100,000 (${{Inflation|US|100000|1899|r=-2|fmt=c}} in today's dollars{{Inflation-fn|US}}) to become a majority shareholder in the Nikola Tesla Company. Astor thought he was primarily investing in the new wireless lighting system. Instead, Tesla used the money to fund his Colorado Springs experiments.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=255–259}} Upon his arrival, he told reporters that he planned to conduct [[wireless telegraphy]] experiments, transmitting signals from [[Pikes Peak]] to Paris.{{sfn|Cheney|2001|p=173}}

[[File:Nikola Tesla, with his equipment Wellcome M0014782 - restoration2.jpg|thumb|left|A [[multiple exposure]] picture of Tesla sitting next to his "[[magnifying transmitter]]" generating millions of volts. The {{convert|7|m|adj=on}} long arcs were not part of the normal operation, but only produced for effect by rapidly cycling the power switch.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|pp=290–301}}]]

There, he conducted experiments with a large coil operating in the megavolts range, producing artificial lightning (and thunder) consisting of millions of volts and discharges of up to {{convert|135|ft|m|0}} in length,<ref>Gillispie, Charles Coulston, "''Dictionary of Scientific Biography'';" ''Tesla, Nikola''. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.</ref> and, at one point, inadvertently burned out the generator in El Paso, causing a power outage.<ref>{{cite journal |last=SECOR |first=H. WINFIELD |title=TESLA'S VIEWS ON ELECTRICITY AND THE WAR |journal=The Electrical Experimenter |date=August 1917 |url=http://www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/1917-08-00.htm |access-date=9 September 2012 |archive-date=10 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210071635/http://tfcbooks.com/tesla/1917-08-00.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The observations he made of the electronic noise of lightning strikes led him to (incorrectly) conclude{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=301}}{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=165}} that he could use the entire globe of the Earth to conduct electrical energy.

During his time at his laboratory, Tesla observed unusual signals from his receiver which he speculated to be communications from another planet. He mentioned them in a letter to a reporter in December 1899<ref>Daniel Blair Stewart (1999). ''Tesla: The Modern Sorcerer'', Frog Book. p. 372</ref> and to the [[Red Cross Society]] in December 1900.{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=315}}{{sfn|Seifer|1998|pp=220–223}} Reporters treated it as a sensational story and jumped to the conclusion Tesla was hearing signals from [[Mars]].{{sfn|Carlson|2013|p=315}} He expanded on the signals he heard in a 9 February 1901 ''Collier's Weekly'' article entitled "Talking With Planets", where he said it had not been immediately apparent to him that he was hearing "intelligently controlled signals" and that the signals could have come from Mars, [[Venus]], or other planets.{{sfn|Seifer|1998|pp=220–223}} It has been hypothesized that he may have intercepted [[Guglielmo Marconi]]'s European experiments in July 1899—Marconi may have transmitted the letter S (dot/dot/dot) in a naval demonstration, the same three impulses that Tesla hinted at hearing in Colorado{{sfn|Seifer|1998|pp=220–223}}—or signals from another experimenter in wireless transmission.<ref name="seifer2006">{{cite web |last=Seifer |first=Marc |title=Nikola Tesla: The Lost Wizard |url=http://teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v4n1/seifer.htm |publisher=ExtraOrdinary Technology (Volume 4, Issue 1; Jan/Feb/March 2006) |access-date=14 July 2012 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925090553/http://teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v4n1/seifer.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=July 2014}}

Tesla had an agreement with the editor of ''[[The Century Magazine]]'' to produce an article on his findings. The magazine sent a photographer to Colorado to photograph the work being done there. The article, titled "The Problem of Increasing Human Energy", appeared in the June 1900 edition of the magazine. He explained the superiority of the wireless system he envisioned but the article was more of a lengthy philosophical treatise than an understandable scientific description of his work,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.teslamemorialsociety.org/info/Research%20of%20Nikola%20Tesla%20in%20Long%20Island%20Laboratory.htm|title=Research of Nikola Tesla in Long Island Laboratory|access-date=26 January 2017|archive-date=6 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506115345/http://www.teslamemorialsociety.org/info/Research%20of%20Nikola%20Tesla%20in%20Long%20Island%20Laboratory.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> illustrated with what were to become iconic images of Tesla and his Colorado Springs experiments.