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Science The Oatmeal backs campaign to crowdfund New York Tesla museum

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The Oatmeal backs campaign to crowdfund New York Tesla museum
By Olivia Solon, 16 August 2012

A non-profit organization has teamed up with The Oatmeal to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to convert Nikola Tesla's last laboratory in New York into a museum. Nikola Tesla was an engineer and inventor originally from Serbia who played a key role in developing the AC electrical supply system, radio and radar among other things. You can read more about his achievements in The Oatmeal's homage to Tesla.

Tesla's final laboratory -- known as Wardenclyffe -- was in Shoreham New York. It was where he tried to build a tower to provide free wireless energy to the world. Unfortunately the project lost funding and the tower was demolished in 1917. The property was then sold to a paper and film manufacturer. The laboratory and land recently came up for sale and a non-profit organisation called the Friends of Science East is trying to buy the property in order to turn it into a Nikola Tesla museum and education centre, called the Tesla Science Center. The property is listed at $1.6 million (£1.02m), but the New York State has pledged to match any money raised to the tune of up to $850,000 (£540,000). As a result, The Oatmeal's founder Matthew Inman got involved to encourage people to donate the rest of the money through crowdfunding site Indiegogo. He has created an infographic explaining the project and is rallying his considerable audience to donate to the cause. According to the campaign's Indiegogo page, there is currently another offer on the table from a developer that wants to turn the property into a retail establishment. Inman explains: "There is no Tesla museum in the United States, despite Tesla's extraordinary accomplishments [which Inman outlined in this post]. If we can outbid this other person and buy the land it will permanently be protected as a historic site and eventually converted into a Nikola Tesla Science Center. " The plan is to raise $1.7million (£1.08) to buy the property. They will likely then need more funding in order to convert the property into a museum and science centre.

The aim is to create a place dedicated to science education and possibly provide space for "fledgling companies engaged in scientific research". The Oatmeal has form for this sort of thing, having been responsible for one of the most virally-successful fundraising campaigns with Funnyjunk vs The Oatmeal. Funnyjunk had taken some of Inman's comics and hosted them without crediting The Oatmeal, so The Oatmeal posted a strongly worded blog post. Funnyjunk responded by ordering The Oatmeal to pay $20,000 in damages and threatening to sue. Inman then launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $20,000 to donate to charity, saying "I'm hoping that philanthropy trumps douchebaggery and greed". He ended up raising more than $200,000. There is already a Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, which was founded in 1952 and features many documents and personal items donated by his nephew Sava Kosanovic. However, so far there is no museum in the US, where Tesla carried out most of his work. To donate to the campaign, head on over to Indiegogo. At the time of writing, the campaign had raised almost $300,000 (£190,000) of the $850,000 (£540,000) goal.

Summary
A non-profit organization has teamed up with The Oatmeal to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to convert Nikola Tesla's last laboratory in New York into a museum.

Nikola Tesla was an engineer and inventor originally from Serbia who played a key role in developing the AC electrical supply system, radio and radar among other things. You can read more about his achievements in The Oatmeal's homage to Tesla.

Description
According to the campaign's Indiegogo page, there is currently another offer on the table from a developer that wants to turn the property into a retail establishment.

Inman explains: "There is no Tesla museum in the United States, despite Tesla's extraordinary accomplishments [which Inman outlined in this post]. If we can outbid this other person and buy the land it will permanently be protected as a historic site and eventually converted into a Nikola Tesla Science Center."

Tags: Crowdfunding, Crowdsource, Crowdsourcing, electricity, IndieGoGO, Nikola Tesla, Tesla Museum, The Oatmeal

Posted by Pablo Braccini

Aug 16, 2012 01:30 pm GMT Viewed 642 times

Author: Olivia Solon Source

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