Croats, Serbs put aside differences to honour Tesla

13/07/2006

Marking the 150th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth, Croatia and Serbia organised a joint commemoration of the great scientist -- an ethnic Serb who was born in Croatia.

By Kristina Cuk in Zagreb and Georgi Mitev-Shantek in Belgrade for Southeast European Times -- 13/07/06

A newly-erected monument of scientist Nikola Tesla stands in his native village of Smiljan, 200km south of Zagreb, as hundreds of people gather to explore the new memorial centre. [Getty Images]

UNESCO couldn't have been more correct when it proclaimed 2006 to be the Year of Nikola Tesla. Events throughout the world have been commemorating his achievements.

In April, Columbia University hosted a symposium. The UN sponsored a June exhibition in Graz, where Tesla studied from 1875 to 1878. The same month, every household in western Australia found a letter about Nikola Tesla included in their electricity bill. More recently, on 9 July, the Nikola Tesla Memorial was unveiled at Niagara Falls, where the scientist built his celebrated hydropower plant.

Not to be outdone, Croatia and Serbia organised a special joint celebration at Tesla's home village of Smiljan. Hundreds of Serbs and Croats put aside their history and came together to commemorate the great man. Festitivies included the inauguration of a newly built multimedia centre, enabling guests to view Tesla's scientific works and patents.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, Serbian President Boris Tadic, and US Ambassador to Croatia Robert Bradtke were among the many officials attending the opening of the centre.

"He is our common heritage, a Serb born in Croatia who did not want ethnic conflicts," Tadic said. "But our past was not always glorious. Today we have a common responsibility to offer our citizens a new vision."

"Tesla is a lighthouse whose light started shining 150 years ago in Smiljan and continues to shine today throughout the whole world, beyond limits and time," said Mesic.

In this way, Croatia and Serbia both paid tribute to an inventor who highlighted the century of industrial revolution and showed that genius goes far beyond religion or nationality.

Also as part of the celebrations, the Serbian central bank published special coins and postmarks for the occasion, and Belgrade's airport was renamed in honour of "the man who invented the 20th century," as some have called him.

Tesla (1856-1943) is credited with the rotating magnetic field principle, induction motors, wireless communication, florescent lights, and over 700 other patents. He became the only scientist from the Balkans whose name is used as a unit in the international measurement system.

When Tesla spoke to a journalist over a hundred years ago and said that in the near future every person would own a little box which would allow them to communicate to anyone else, he was ridiculed.

Today, with everyone from businesspeople to high school students making use of sophisticated cell phone technology, his prediction rings true.