PUBLIC LECTURE AND BOOK SIGNING

W. Bernard Carlson, PhD

Professor and Chair, Dept. of Engineering and Society, University of Virginia

Speaking on his new book, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton Univ. Press, 2013)

 

EVENT DETAILS

Warner Bros. Theater, 1^st Floor

National Museum of American History

Smithsonian Institution

Washington, DC

Tue June 25, 2013

Lecture: 2-3pm, Book Signing: 3-4pm

 

In his new biography, former Smithsonian Institution and Lemelson Center fellow Bernie Carlson places the legendary Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla within the cultural and technological context of his time and focuses on his inventions as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla's private and public life – including collections at the National Museum of American History - Carlson shows how he was an "idealist" inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion.  This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs.

 

The lecture is free and open to the public - first come, first seated. 

 

Directions to the National Museum of American History:

http://americanhistory.si.edu/visit/gettinghere

 

Presented by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, the NMAH Bookstore, and Princeton University Press. 

 

Contact:

Eric S. Hintz, PhD

Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History

+1 202-633-3734

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