Nikola Tesla

“ This will be merely the forerunner of ever so much more important development, which will proceed at a furious pace until, by the application of these same great principles, the power of waterfalls can be focussed whenever desired; until the air is conquered, the soil fructified and embellished; until, in all departments of human life distance has lost its meaning, and even the immense gulf separating us from other worlds is bridged. ”

“ There is nothing remarkable in the demonstration reported to have been made before Sir William Preece and Prof. Sylvanus P. Thompson, nor is there any novelty in the electrical devices employed. The lighting of arc lamps through the human body, the fusing of a piece of copper in mid-air, as described, are simple experiments which by the use of my high-frequency transformers any student of electricity can readily perform. They teach nothing new, and have no bearing on wireless transmission, for the actions virtually cease at a distance of a few feet from the source of vibratory energy. ”

“ The first practical success, already forecast by Slaby’s convincing demonstration, will be the signal for revolutionary improvements which will take the world by storm.
However great the success of the telephone, it is just beginning its evidence of usefulness. Wireless transmission of speech will not only provide new but also enormously extend existing facilities. ”

“ In one the body of a person was subjected to the rapidly-alternating pressure of an electrical oscillator of two and a half million volts; in the other a small incandescent lamp was lighted by means of a resonant circuit grounded on one end, all the energy being drawn through the earth electrified from a distant transmitter. ”

“ A scientific audience cannot help being impressed by a display of interesting phenomena, but the originality and significance of a demonstration such as that referred to can only be judged by an expert possessed of full knowledge and capable of drawing correct conclusions. ”

“ What impresses him most, however, is the knowledge that the little lamp will spring into the same brilliancy anywhere on the globe, there being no appreciable diminution of the effect with the increase of distance from the transmitter. ”

“ Regardless of all that, the Danish inventors have not as yet offered the slightest proof that their expectations are realisable, and before advancing seriously the claim that an efficient wireless distribution of light and power to great distances is possible, they should, at least, repeat those of my experiments which have furnished this evidence. ”