5 Facts About Nikola Tesla, The Unrecognized Genius | National Geographic National Geographic National Geographic

"People are more interested in Tesla these days," says Jane Alcorn, a retired teacher and the president of the Tesla Science Center Wardenclyffe. “He speaks to those people who work hard but get little recognition for it. People are starting to realize how important his contributions were.”

One sign of this growing recognition was certainly that Elon Musk named his electric car startup Tesla Motors after the visionary and inventor in 2003.

A brilliant inventor

Tesla was the child of Serbian parents and was born in a small town that is now in Croatia. As a young man he emigrated to the USA, where he later became a citizen. In addition to Edison, who later became his fiercest rival, he collaborated extensively with the inventor George Westinghouse. In 1893 the duo demonstrated their advances in lighting and engines at the Chicago World's Fair. Two years later, the two developed the first hydroelectric power station at Niagara Falls.

At the turn of the century, Tesla established his Wardenclyffe Laboratory in the small Long Island community of Shoreham, where he conducted some of his most ambitious experiments. The venture was funded by J.P. Morgen and designed by renowned architect Stanford White.

The most striking part of the laboratory was the Wardenclyffe Tower, also known as the Tesla Tower. The 57 meter high wooden framework tower had a large antenna at the top and was not only intended to enable wireless radio communication across the Atlantic, but also to distribute energy wirelessly in the area.

The tower has long since been demolished, but Tesla's large statue in front of the building is a fitting memorial to the site, Alcorn says. "This is the last surviving Tesla laboratory in the world," she said.

It took years for Alcorn's nonprofit to purchase the property (with a little help from a webcomic artist).

Even during the construction project, Tesla ran out of money and his laboratory was foreclosed on twice. Just like his previous Colorado Springs lab, his assets were liquidated to pay off his debts. In 1917 the tower was blown up to sell the metal. The destruction was rumored to have been ordered by the US government, which is said to have feared German spies would use the radio tower for war purposes, according to Alcorn. For decades after the tower was demolished, the main building continued to be used to manufacture photography supplies.