Welcome to the Tesla Memorial Society of New York Website

Nikola Tesla holding a gas-filled phosphor-coated light bulb which was illuminated without wires by an electromagnetic field from the "Tesla Coil".

Tesla's AC Induction Motor is one of the 10 greatest discoveries of all time

Above: One of the original AC Tesla Induction Motors on display in the British Science Museum in London. This motor was referenced in T.C. Martin's book as loaned by Tesla to Prof. Ayrton in England. In 1892, Tesla delivered his famous lecture before the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Institution of Great Britain, in London, where he gave his original induction motor to Prof. Ayrton. Photo from Jim Morford. Tesla Memorial Society of New York is grateful for Mr. Morford's educational photographs and texts.

Above: Text from T.C. Martin's book.

Above: Poster by Dr. Ljubo Vujovic, President, Tesla Memorial Society of New York, describing how the rotating magnetic field was discovered by Tesla in Budapest, 1882.

Nikola Tesla was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame for his invention of the Electro-Magnetic Motor -  Alternating Current in 1975

Above:  Hall of Fame Inventor Profile

The following below can be found at Nikola Tesla's Hall of Fame Inventor Profile

Nikola Tesla
Born Jul 10 1856 - Died Jan 7 1943

Electro-Magnetic Motor
Alternating Current
Patent Number(s) 381,968

Inducted 1975

Nikola Tesla invented the induction motor with rotating magnetic field that made unit drives for machines feasible and made AC power transmission an economic necessity.

In 1887 and 1888 Tesla had an experimental shop at 89 Liberty Street, New York, and there he invented the induction motor. He sold the invention to Westinghouse in July 1888 and spent a year in Pittsburgh instructing Westinghouse engineers.


Invention Impact

Inventor Bio

Born in Smiljan Lika, Croatia, the son of a Serbian Orthodox clergyman, Tesla attended Joanneum, a polytechnic school in Graz and the University of Prague for two years. He started work in the engineering department of the Austrian telegraph system then became an electrical engineer at an electric power company in Budapest and later at another in Strasbourg. While in technical school, Tesla became convinced that commutators were unnecessary on motors; and while with the power company he built a crude motor which demonstrated the truth of his theory. In 1884, Tesla came to the United States and joined the Edison Machine Works as a dynamo designer.

Telsa obtained more than 100 patents in his lifetime. Despite his 700 inventions Tesla was not wealthy. For many years he worked in his room at the Hotel New Yorker, where he died.

Above: One of the original Tesla Electric Motors from 1888 which is today the main power of for industry and household appliances.  Tesla's Electric Motor is one of the ten greatest inventions of all times.

Above: Tesla's Alternating Current Motor found at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.  (For more information go to: Smithsonian Institution  (Museum) in Washington D.C. pays tribute to Nikola Tesla)

Above: United States Postal Stamps- "A Tribute to American Inventors" - Nikola Tesla and his induction motor.

Tesla's Alternating Current Motor is considered the top 10 discoveries of all times

Tesla Motors - Westinghouse Photo Collection

World's Columbian Exposition
 in Chicago 1893
- The great victory of Tesla/Westinghouse's Polyphase alternating current system electricity.

By Dr. Ljubo Vujovic and Marko Vujovic

The World Columbian Exposition was the World's Fair commemorating 400 years since Christopher Columbus set foot in the New World.  Located on Lake Michigan to facilitate access by sea, road and rail.  It was a gathering of ideas, men and technologies from every quarter of the globe, with each country contributing its best of their industrial, cultural, commercial and educational enterprises.  The Renaissance style of the exposition buildings was unsurpassed by its architecture beauty.  The Exposition itself was a work of art.  The Exposition was a brilliant spectacle of science, art and industry.  All the world has its pilgrimage to Columbian Exposition in 1893.  Westinghouse became dedicated to promoting the polyphase alternating current system and felt that his best chance to introduce it to the public at large would be at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  The exposition was the greatest event in America and in the world at that time.  Ever the ingenious promoter Westinghouse outbid Edison for the contract to power the expositions lighting and electrical systems.  Over Two Hundred thousand electric light bulbs were illuminated by Tesla's polyphase alternating current system.  The Westinghouse display was a historic collection of machines, all powered with Tesla/Westinghouse alternating current.  It was a spectacular display of lights and energy, which illuminated the exposition.

Pictures of this great event where taken from the following excellent books:

• The Book Of The Fair by Howe Bancroft, Volume One

• The Dream City: A Portfolio of Photographic Views by Prof. Halsey C. Ives

Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893
Celebrating 400 years of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus

Above: Statue of Columbus at the Exhibition.

Above: Administration Building, East Front.

Above: The Great Allis-Corliss Engine

Above: Tesla's Polyphase Alternating Current 500 horse power generator, in Westinghouse Exposition.

Above: Looking East from the Ferris Wheel - the Columbian Exposition,
"The Dream City".

Above: The Heroic Statue of the Republic.

Above: "The Dream City", the Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Above: The Ferris Wheel - the chief wonder of the fair of 1893 was the work of George Washington Gale Ferris, a man born west of Chicago.  The Ferris Wheel was one of the World's Wonders.

Above: The Electricity Building - where Westinghouse's Exposition was located.

Above: The Edison Electric Tower.

Above: The Electricity Building - where Westinghouse's Exposition was located.

Above: Nikola Tesla's personal exhibit at the World Fair in Chicago, 1893.

Above: Nikola Tesla's personal exhibition - Neon Lights.

Above:  A Mammoth Dynamo