Nikola Tesla

No High Speed Limit, Says Tesla

No High-Speed Limit, Says Tesla

(Following is a summary of the referenced article.)

Dr. Nikola Tesla asserted in an interview with Hugo Gernsback that speeds greater than
that of light, which are considered impossible by the Einstein theory of relativity, have
been produced.

Stating that the Einstein theory is erroneous in many respects, Dr. Tesla stated as early
as 1900, in his patent 787,412, that the current of his radiopower transmitter passed
over the surface of the earth with a speed of 292,830 miles a second. According to the
Einstein theory, the highest possible speed is 186,300 miles a second.

Tesla indicated knowledge of speeds several times greater than light, and had apparatus
designed to project so-called electrons with a speed equal to twice that of light.

Tesla disagreed with the part of the Einstein theory which states that the mass of an
object increases with its speed. The mass of a body is unalterable, contended Dr. Tesla,
According to the article, "otherwise energy could be produced from nothing, since the
kinetic energy acquired in the fall of a body would be greater than that necessary to lift it
at a small velocity."

The Literary Digest — Nov. 7, 1931