Topic
Death ray
About: Death ray is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2 publications have been published within this topic receiving 3 citations. The topic is also known as: death beam.
Papers
TL;DR: In this article, Nikola Tesla's claim to have invented a 'death ray' is still tantalizing the imagination of movie makers, particularly his claim of having invented a death ray.
Abstract: Seventy years after his death, the mystery sυrrουnding electrical engineer Nikola Tesla - particularly his claim to have invented a 'death ray' - is s arking the imagination of movie makers. There's a car company named after him. And an airport, a telecommunications group, a computer graphics processor, a social transformation conference, even a rock band. Scientist, engineer, inventor, futurist and all round genius; Tesla died 70 years ago. Born in 1856 in Smiljan, Croatia. then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Serb parents, he worked in the USA from 1884 onwards. All three countries claim Tesla as their own. So too do the champions of wireless communication, free energy and sustainable living. Those who dream of socialist utopias and complain about capitalist conspiracies see Tesla as one of theirs, as do capitalist entrepreneurs like Tesla Motors' founder Elon Musk and the company's financial backers, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google fame, and former eBay president Jeff Skoll. In Croatia, mobile communications giants Ericsson is called < Ericsson Nikola Tesla in a nod to its former countryman. There are societies, foundations, clubs and centres all over the world dedicated to a man who filed 278 patents in 26 countries, gave the world its system for directing alternating current and inspired the development of radio. Tesla also invented an energy weapon, created lightning, claimed to be able to pluck energy from the air, and apparently had a machine that created earthquakes - making him intriguing enough for novelists, film makers, comicbook writers and TV producers to use as a fictional character. So, how can one man be so influential in so many, often diametrically opposed, fields?
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the author has deduced that Guglielmo Marconi could have had a clear idea of how to make a particle-beam weapon without even trying to build one.
Abstract: Guglielmo Marconi has long been regarded as one of the greatest personalities of the history of science and technology of the twentieth century. A writer, citied in the text, has called him “The father of radio, the great grandfather of TV and the great, great grandfather of the Internet” (at least of Wi-Fi). Many things, both positive and negative, have been said about him. Perhaps the most famous story about him concerns his “death ray,” a formidable weapon, operating by radio waves, able to kill a great many people and to destroy tanks, airplanes, and ships. According to serious historians, these are purely tales. This, however, is not the author’s views. Starting with what is known, and given the evidence of some recent particle-beam weapons tests and some elements of the story that have gone unknown until today, the author has deduced that Marconi could have had a clear idea of how to make a particle-beam weapon without even trying to build one.
1 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2013 | 1 |