Tomislav Nikolic is on a campaign. One, he wants the world to know that scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla was awesome. Two, he wants the world to know that Tesla was Serbian. The first part’s so far been a breeze. The second part, however, is taking a bit more work.
Nikolic hit a major milestone on his Tesla greatness tour on Tuesday, when he unveiled a statue of Tesla at the scientist’s former Wardenclyffe laboratory — the future home of a Tesla museum thanks to an overwhelmingly successful crowdsourced fundraising effort on IndieGoGo. “The strength of Tesla’s vision — because you can’t forget he died more than 70 years ago — is what influences how the public speaks about Nikola Tesla: with respect,” he told The Guardian. “In turn, the public will also speak about Serbia with respect.”
The Long Island historical site was not the Serbian president’s first choice for a Tesla monument, however. Nikolic originally wanted to construct the statue in front of the United Nations, where “thousands of people pass by daily”. For whatever reason, the statue ended up at Wardenclyffe, not far from the Long Island Sound. Tesla probably would’ve wanted it that way, especially since everybody in New York City buys their electricity from a company with Edison’s name in it. [The Guardian]