It was January 7, 1943 when Nikola Tesla, a genius of Serbian origin, was found lifeless in his room at the New Yorker Hotel. The following day, his nephew Sava Kosanović arrived at the scene and noticed that something was wrong. Some important documents and a black notebook containing notes on a government project were missing.
Nikola Tesla: one man, countless inventions
In addition to being the inventor of the coil that bears his name, Tesla pioneered alternating current and laid the foundation for our modern electrical grid. And these are just some of his many innovations. Many of his projects, which at the time seemed pure science fiction, are still being studied today.
The mystery of the contents of the safe
The FBI papers were declassified 73 years after the events, in 2016, and they tell us that Kosanović went to his uncle's room to open the safe and remove some things, but the disappearance of the documents is not mentioned. To Walter Gorsuch of the Office of Alien Property Custodian (APC), Kosanović stated that he was looking for Tesla's will. What about the APC? It was the organization responsible for confiscating enemy property during the two world wars.
Although Tesla was a naturalized citizen, the APC confiscated all his belongings the day after his death, fearing that his nephew, the Yugoslav ambassador to the United States, might give them to the enemy. The amount of material seized was enough to fill two trucks, although the legality of this operation was somewhat questionable.
Between death rays and cosmic energy
At the time, there were rumors of revolutionary discoveries made by Tesla. For example, that of a “death ray” capable of melting aircraft engines 250 miles away. Or the theory of cosmic energy, a free and unlimited energy that, according to a conspiracy theory, Tesla discovered, but which was suppressed by the government.
However, after the confiscation the documents were examined by Dr. John G. Trump, uncle of Donald Trump. The official verdict? No important findings for the government. However, after the war, the US government's interest in pulse weapons, inspired by Tesla's research, resources.
Nikola Tesla the question remains
Copies of Tesla's documents were never returned to the PCA, despite the request. It was not until 1952 that Kosanović managed to recover some, but not all, of Tesla's personal effects. It seems that much of his research has been lost.
Today, copies of Tesla's documents can be found in the Nikola Tesla archives Museum in Belgrade, Serbia. The question that remains open, however, is: has the US government returned everything?
