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The Oatmeal's Fundraiser Tops $1M Toward Tesla Museum

Posted by timothy on from the how-many-cars-will-fit? dept.

The Oatmeal's call to raise funds for a museum celebrating Nikola Tesla seems to have electrified enough people. From Digital Trends: "The Oatmeal has raised over $1 million on IndieGoGo in an effort to secure Wardenclyffe, the site of Tesla's final laboratory, to build a museum dedicated to Tesla. ... [Oatmeal founder and artist Matthew] Inman’s original goal of $850,000 would buy just half of the cost of the property, but the state of New York has agreed to match contributions, bringing total funds up to $1.7 million. Raising the capital to build a museum from the property will be another cost, but from the looks of it, with 36 days left and having already surpassed the $1 million mark, there should be funds to spare."

15 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. Good thing Edison is not alive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    He would probably buy it and install a McDonald's...

    1. Re:Good thing Edison is not alive... by DevotedSkeptic · · Score: 3, Funny

      If so, then Tesla would sneak in and tweak the food so that the food would make people skinnier

      --
      Chief Thinker www.devotedskeptic.com
    2. Re:Good thing Edison is not alive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      He would probably buy it and install a McDonald's...

      Actually a developer offer to buy the property and turn half a dozen or so acres and the building over to be the museum FOR FREE if he were allowed to develop condos on most of the rest of the parcel. The property being sold through a commercial real estate agency, is already compatibly zoned.

      Considering that the efforts for this museum have been underway since the late 90's (the wayback machine is revealing with some of the sources) and there have been offices in multiple cities including one in Colorado, some should be asking how much of the funds raised over the years when to officers, board members, consultants, and contractors.
      The focus seems to have been on fund raising, even though the site could have been had (the key portion at least) for free. The owner of the site, Agfa, did not want to give the site away as they don't need a write off, and the toxic cleanup has been quite costly.

      It seems strange that something that grew out of a school cramped for space seems to lack anything beyond cardboard displays and videos to show.
      Of course the historic site doesn't have any of the original equipment. It's actually a contaminated superfund site, with issues from the photograph chemicals leaked there by a company the current owner has bought out, as well a cadmium (now apparently encased in concrete) from a Tesla tower that is long gone. Most of the actual artifacts beyond the building are in a real museum in the EU. Other resources are available through a surviving distance relative (using volunteers).
      Almost everything the people in the current project have posted has been related to fund raising. They've done little over the last 15 years to actually show the public all about Tesla. (The real museum in the EU has an excellent site however)

      Regardless of the financial skeletons behind the project, lets hope an active museum with more to show than posters and videos comes from all this. Perhaps they can get people to build replicas of some of the things Tesla designed?

  2. Excellent! This is worthwhile. by jimbodude · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If they are to build it, I would visit a Tesla museum with my children, especially if they can have hands-on attractions. What kid wouldn't be inspired by a live Tesla coil? I know I was when I was a child.

    1. Re:Excellent! This is worthwhile. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They should build a Maker Center there, it could support it self in no time.

      Education and invention.

  3. Very underestimated scientist by Jerry+Smith · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If only he had gotten as much attention as the media now tend to spend on famous trash, the world would be a much better place.

    --
    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
  4. Audience by vlm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I superficially glanced at this but couldn't figure out if the museum audience is supposed to be:
    1) 10 years old
    2) -or- electrical engineers and fellow travelers
    3) -or- homeopathic crystal therapy conspiracy theory vampire worshipers

    Its pretty hard to appeal equally to all 3, so I'm curious which audience the museum is aimed at.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:Audience by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It should be noted those you might consider "Tesla nutters" really have nothing to do with the foundation setting up the museum other than donating money. The actual foundation board consists of among others physicists and a retired teacher/librarian.

      Being a physicist or a retired teacher/librarian is in no way inconsistent with being a "Tesla nutter".

  5. Obviously... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's meant for the 10 year old electrical engineers working on homeopathic crystal therapies for vampires.

  6. He did by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 5, Informative

    "If only he had gotten as much attention as the media now tend to spend on famous trash, the world would be a much better place."

    Tesla was actually quite famous in his day. His fame might have fallen by the time he died, but Time magazine did feature him in its cover. See:

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Nikola_Tesla_on_Time_Magazine_1931.jpg

    Surely, at a time where TV broadcasting was in its infancy at best, appearing on the cover of Time is as good a claim a fame as appearing on Fox News or American Idol.

    Blame his failure to equal the status of Edison, not to mention Einstein, on his decision to withdraw from society in his later years.

  7. Another Tesla museum? by Ken_g6 · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's apparently one in Belgrade. There is another small one in Colorado Springs - I've been there.

    --
    (T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
    1. Re:Another Tesla museum? by HistoryNerd · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The one you have been to in Colorado Springs was almost certainly what has now been closed. The current one, which is extremely limited in scope by any measure, is actually basically in someone's basement and can be visited by appointment only.

      The Belgrade one is the one really notable true museum, but the view of many is there should be one in the U.S. where his most significant scientific accomplishments occurred, especially since most people are not going to happen to go to Belgrade.

  8. Re:This is great news by mirix · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It seems the museum in Belgrade is vastly superior. He was Serbian after all, and it looks like they inherited a lot of his artifacts -- including him. (his urn is there).

    I've been to BG a few times in the past, and never stopped at the museum. WTF is wrong with me?

    --
    Sent from my PDP-11
  9. Re:This is great news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It really does look vastly superior, I'll have to visit Belgrade and that museum the next time I'm in the region.

    Saying 'he was Serbian after all' is somewhat misleading, while it is true that he has half of his ancestry (paternal) tracing to Serbian origins, he was an Austrian, born from a Croat, in the middle of Croatia, got his inspirations in Croatian nature and learned the Lika dialect as young, I would be hesitant to sway his nationality to that of a Serb; no matter how The Truth Of Today says.

    Still, getting back to the topic, I think you need to have your geek-badge taken away from you if you don't correct the blasphemy of not visiting the museum if you've been to Belgrade few times with any time to spare.

    Regards,
    -Another Tesla Fan

  10. Hope there's a better business model this time by GPS+Pilot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wish him success, but he should be aware that there was a Tesla museum in Colorado Springs that was unable to make a go of it. It entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1998.

    --
    That that is is that that that that is not is not.