Michal Martinů, Eng.
Czech Republic

Nikola Tesla's father was a Serbian Orthodox priest serving in lands of the Austro-Hungarian empire which comprise today's Croatia. When he was born, he was a citizen of Austro-Hungary. HIs Mother was a Serbian from Vojvodina. Nikola Tesla was therefore never Croatian. During WWII, the Croatian Ustashe destroyed his home and his Father's Church. I visited the reconstructed Church and his birthplace in the town of Smiljan in 1988. The Church was again destroyed in the recent civil war in the former Yugoslavia. He was a Serbian Orthodox Christian – one of the founding fathers of the St. Save Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in New York City (near East 26th St and 6th ave) . Finally, given that almost all of our scientific progress has been based upon Tesla's many inventions (wireless transmission, AC, electric motors, spark plug, x-ray etc) , I say with certainty that he was the godfather of the 20th Century and beyond – one of humanity's greatest heroes. There are very few people the world over do not use devices stemming from his great work and inventions daily.

Best regards,
Michael Pravica

Completely agree with your comments about great scientists and I do generalize about our need to recognize them at the end of my article. Regarding your questions about Tesla's X-ray work, take a look at "Tesla Master of Lightning" by Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth (ISBN 0-7607-1005-8) pp. 75-77. On page 75, we read: "Tesla, while experimenting with his molecular-bombardment or 'carbon-button' lamp as reported in his lectures of 1892 had detected 'visible light, black light and a very special radiation.' With the radiation, he had made shadowgraph pictures on plates inside metal containers…." The x-ray discovery made by Roentgen (who was a good friend of Tesla's) was made December 28, 1895. Please also take a look at: http://teslasociety.com/biography.htm in which you will find the following discussion:

"The Electrical Review in 1896 published X-rays of a man, made by Tesla, with X-ray tubes of his own design. They appeared at the same time as when Roentgen announced his discovery of X-rays. Tesla never attempted to proclaim priority. Roentgen congratulated Tesla on his sophisticated X-ray pictures, and Tesla even wrote Roentgen's name on one of his films. He experimented with shadowgraphs similar to those that later were to be used by Wilhelm Rontgen when he discovered X-rays in 1895. Tesla's countless experiments included work on a carbon button lamp, on the power of electrical resonance, and on various types of lightning. Tesla invented the special vacuum tube which emitted light to be used in photography. "

Thank you for your interest in my article.