The Last Days

The Last Days

Nikola Tesla spent his last days as he did most of his life – working. He continued living in a hotel, however, and his closest person was his nephew, Sava Kosanovic.  One would think that someone like Tesla, who has done so much for the human kind, would be reasonable enough to secure his old age.  Whoever would think so does not know what kind of a person Tesla was.  To him everything was more important than money.  He was the one who relinquished the compensation he was entitled to according to the contrast with Westinghouse.  Those wages were not negligible.  Today a percentage of those wages, which he was supposed to receive on the basis of his patents, could build a huge financial empire.  Nevertheless, even when in his old age he remained without a livelihood, he was hardly convinced to receive a modest pension from the Yugoslav government.  He was too proud for something like that.

Still, Tesla did not loose his spirit, and he did not retire from public life.  He used certain occasions to address the public, Yugoslav first of all.  He sincerely and openly spoke in favor of unity between Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in the country as well as in America.

World War Two started when Tesla was 83 years old.  The scientist then directed his intellectual power toward activities around international political problems.  In April 1942, through Sava Kosanovic, he addressed the public with the letter “To My Brothers in America.”  In the letter, he called all the nations oriented toward Yugoslavia in the United States to answer the call of President Roosevelt to fulfil the war production plan.  The call found response and support of all the people it was addressed to.

During that year, 1942, Tesla appeared in public for the last time.

The king of Yugoslavia, Peter II Karadjordjevic, visited American president in June of the same year, seeking help for a struggle against the occupier.  Since he wanted to meet with Tesla, he traveled to New York where the Society of American Friends of Yugoslavia organized a reception for the king.  Tesla was invited, but he could not come because of illness.  The king, therefore, came to his apartment in Hotel New Yorker.  After the visit, the young king wrote in his journal that Tesla’s words were touching, and that they both cried.  After that Tesla remained completely by himself with his letters. 

He died on January 7th 1943 in the 86th year of his life, from the consequences of a heart thrombus.  A couple of days after Tesla’s death, the Information center of the Yugoslav royal government released a statement about the death giving a short review of Tesla’s achievements and the schedule of the service and the funeral.  The speech, written by Louis Adamic, was read in a live broadcast on Radio New York by the mayor of New York City on January 10th 1943.

Testimonies

The remains of Nikola Tesla were taken to Campbell cemetery.  The protocol anticipated the funeral service to be conducted on January 12th in the cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.  Bishop Manning delivered the introductory and the last prayer in English.  The funeral service in the name of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the absence of Bishop Dionisius, the head of the Serbian Church in the US, was continued by priest Dusan Sukletovic, the superior of the church of St. Sava of the New York parish.  The bereaved family members present at the funeral were Sava Kosanovic and Nikola Trbojevic.

“Inventors, Nobel-Prize winners, the leading figures in the field of electrical engineering, high officials of the Yugoslav government in New York, and men and women who distinguished themselves in many other areas, honored Nikola Tesla, the father of the radio, the modern mode of production and transport of electricity.”  The New York Times, January 13th 1943.

A few days later, Tesla’s remains were cremated.  The urn with the ashes of this great scientist was flown to Belgrade in 1957 and, according to the wishes of Tesla’s family and consultations with Professor Veljko Korac, placed in Museum of Nikola Tesla, where it is found to this date.

Charlotte Muzar

…That fall, while Sava N. Kosanovic was in the hospital because of an urgent appendectomy, Tesla called his office.  Later I found about Tesla’s habit to call the nephew at his apartment in Hotel Navaro at every time of the night.  Tesla urgently needed money.  His voice sounded old, exhausted, shaky and distant.  He said 50 dollars would be enough.  The next day, when I came to the lobby of Hotel New Yorker, I called Tesla.  After some time and many rings, the operator told me: “Please be patient.  Sometimes, Dr. Tesla needs a long time to answer.”  Finally I heard his voice, the same as the day before, saying “hi,” and he invited me to come up to his room, after I had explained my presence.

In a way, this surprised me.  I was expecting he would ask me to leave the money at the reception or to send it through the porter, because I heard he lived like a hermit.

His apartment was at the end of the hall on the 33rd floor.  I knocked and he invited me to come in.  In front of me, Nikola Tesla sat on the bed.  He looked a lot weaker than on the photos taken during the visit of King Peter a few months earlier.  He was in his pajamas.  He had sparse, completely white hair parted in the middle.  His face was emaciated, he looked very skinny.  His eyes were piercingly sharp.  His bed was old-fashioned, I think made of brass. 

Between us there was an old-fashioned, dining-room table, covered with papers and notes.  I introduced myself and explained my visit again.  He said “good,” and with a hand motion showed to leave the envelope on the table, which I did.  I stopped for a moment and asked if he needed anything, and if I could do something for him.  He said: “No, thank you very much, miss.”  I left him reluctantly.

Ilija Obradović

…But two preserved things we found in the safe made a deep impression on us.  We found them at the end of examining the safe.  On the outside they were attractive and they were lost among the luxurious ornaments and big diplomas on scrolls.  Those were two small packages.  One from glossy paper tied with an old rope with several knots.  We opened it just in case, not expecting to find an important object.

During the opening the end of copper wires appeared, and then a whole metal ring around which six copper wire windings were wrapped, insulated with cotton, blackened from old age.  It was the stator of the first induction motor in the world.  Tesla’s first revolutionary invention, the symbol of the beginning of electrification – the beginning of Tesla’s fruitful work for the wellbeing of the human kind.  He saved it as a souvenir.

It was obvious that he had opened it many times to look at it.  The other package was a bundle of paper with the emblem of the hotel where he lived.  But the paper is not old.  It is white and written all over by Tesla’s sure handwriting.  Almost only numbers can be seen, five-, ten- and fifteen-digit ones.  We can find neither the beginning nor the end.  The sheets are mixed up, and we can only see that it is a calculation of electric electron charge with a large number of decimals. 

Finally, we find the title page where it is written: “The Last Calculations.”  We found out that Tesla expired with these notes in his hands.  He worked till the last day, till the last breath.  Thus we found almost at the same time the symbols of the beginning and the end of Tesla’s great opus…