F oreign tourists who come to the Ser- bian capital almost never miss out on a visit to the Nikola Tesla Muse- um. O cial data indicates that the must tour locations in Belgrade are St. Sava Temple, Kalemegdan Fortress and the build- ing that preserves the legacy of the scientist whose discoveries changed the world. It al- so isn’t overlooked by domestic tourists, with around 150,000 people passing through the Museumannually.Whilewalkingthroughthe fascinating world of this genius from Smil- jan, we discovered things that even we didn’t knowaboutTesla.Didyouknowthathetook extra care of the clothes he wore, choosing only those made from the nest materials? “AllofNikolaTesla’ssuitshadanauthentic label detailing their production on the back. He liked to wear gloves because he was afraid of bacteria and viruses. He took care of his diet, eating twice a day, and walked a lot be- cause he thought it was productive for work. And he worked constantly and created some- thing new every day. He directed all his ener- gy towards uncovering the new. If it weren’t forTesla, there would be nothing,”saysTesla Museum Director Ivona Jevtić. Analytical to the level of genius, a stickler for details and a perfectionist. In the museum you can see a crocodile skin bag and shoes with laces that are still modern today, because Tesla was beyond time, and everything re- lated to him is timeless. We could easily im- agine him in the suit exhibited in the Muse- um, with leather gloves and a watch. As the director told us, the Tesla Muse- um is constantly introducing new elements, so there’s now one employee of this insti-
Direktorka muzeja Ivona Jevtić director Ivona Jevtić
the museum.
tution who bears a striking resemble to Tes- la, and who sometimes dons the great man’s suit and introduces himself to visitors. Unfor- tunately, we didn’t get to meet him, but we did get Tesla to personally introduce us to the special part of the Museum where the virtu- al tour, introduced in 2016, is conducted. We donned glasses and stepped into virtual re- ality. There we were welcomed by signposts – some leading to the personal life of Nikola Tesla, others directing us along the road to his inventions. This museum, which is a unique institu- tion of science and culture in Serbia and world- wide, has around 160,000 original documents, over 2,000 books and magazines, 1,200 histor- ical-technical exhibits, more than 1,500 pho- tographs and glass photo plates, over 1,000 design plans and sketches... Attracting the at- tention of visitors in particular are the“baby” transformer of 120 thousand volts and the 500 thousand volt transformer used for to transmit electricity wirelessly. At the moment of the elec- tric discharge of the large transformer in the Museum, lightning strikes like that which struck in 1856“announcingTesla’s birth”. Science lov- ers will surely be interested in the fact that the“baby”transformer can also be touched. Every invention is proof of how much this scientist contributed to the development of electrical and mechanical engineering, by - among other things - inventing an induction motor and a remote-controlled boat. Human- ity was left indebted to him with inventions that include the transmission and use of alter- nating current, wireless communication, re- mote controls... His inventions provided the basis for modern power systems, the most im- portant part of every country’s infrastructure, and the modi cations to his transformers are used in research laboratories for physics, laser technology, X-rays etc. “I rmly believe in the Law of Compensa- tion. Genuine awards are always proportion- ate to the work undertaken and the sacri ce involved. This is one of the reasons why I’m sure that, of all my inventions, the high-volt- age transmitter will prove the most important and most valuable for future generations,”said Tesla, and we met those future generations at
Curious to nd out who Tesla was, young peoplecomefromaroundtheworld.Through the original lm of Branimir Jovanović (with subtitles in 11 languages), they are rst famil- iarised with details from the life and works of this scientist, and then, like us, they carefully visit the corner of this house that has become one of the symbols of Belgrade. In conversa- tion with them, we discovered that some are amazed by Tesla, while there are also those who don’t know much about this scientist from Smiljan. After visiting this museum, that’s cer- tainly changed. Ever more excursions from all over Serbia are coming to the Tesla Muse- um, which is particularly pleasing for Jevtić, because in that way children get a chance to learn about Tesla and to become interested in science. It is better to learn about Tesla by understanding his words: “Our bodies are of a similar build and are exposed to the same external in uences. The result of that is similar reactions and a harmony of the general activities upon which all of our social and other rules and laws are based. We are automatons that completely control the forces of the environment... Our movements and other actions serve to preserve lives, and although it seems that we are completely in- dependent of one another, we are linked by invisible connections...” Also on display in the Museum is a copy of a portrait of NikolaTesla, the“Blue Portrait”, which is the 1916 work of Hungarian aristocrat Vilma Lwo-Parlaghy. The scientist agreed to pose for his lady friend under one condition: that blue glass be placed on the windows to simulate the northern lights (the lights of the night sky that usually appear in polar regions). A signi cant place in the museum is oc- cupied by photographs of Nikola Tesla’s fam- ily – father Milutin, a Serbian Orthodox priest, mother Georgina, brother Dane and sisters Mil- ka, Angelina and Marica, with whom – we were told at the Museum – he often corresponded and sent money. “Tesla liked to drink good wine and wait- ed for the wine sent to him by Uncle Tribvun Mandić,” notes another lesser known detail from his biography.
Museum
VAZDA OSTAJEM SAMO SRBIN Mnogo se polemiše o poreklu Nikole Tesle, ali evo šta je on sam o tome rekao u govoru koji je održao prilikom posete Ve- likoj školi u Beogradu 1892, a koji je objavljen u časopisu Bra - nik … „Svoju radost, koju ja ovoga trenutka osećam, ja ne umem da vam iskažem, ali se radujem što mogu ovom prilikom da pred vama, mila braćo, izrazim svagda svoje najmilije zadovoljstvo da sam bio i da vazda ostajem samo Srbin i ništa više... ... Ako ima kakve slave i zasluge za čovečanstvo da se pripiše mome imenu, to ta počast više pripada srpskom imenu, srpskom narodu, iz čije sam sredine ja ponikao…“ I ALWAYS REMAIN ONLY A SERB There is a lot of controversy about the origin of Nikola Tesla, but here’s what he himself said about that in a speech that he gave during a visit to the Great School in Belgrade in 1892, which was published in the journal“Branik”... “My joy, which I feel at this moment, is something I’m not capable of expressing to you, but I am joyful that on this occasion, in front of you, my dear brothers, I can express always with my dearest sat- isfaction that I have been and will always remain only a Serb and nothing more... ...And if there is any glory and merit for humanity, to be attribut- ed to my name, that honour belongs more to the Serbian name, to the Serbian people from whose midst I emerged...”
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