FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover labeled Nikola Tesla’s documents as most classified material, because they could be potentially dangerous in enemy hands.
Famous scientist Nikola Tesla died on this day in New York, at the age of 86. The cause of death was coronary thrombosis and he died in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel (he allegedly stayed only in rooms whose number was divisible by three). In the hotel’s storehouse were huge amounts of Tesla’s documents that he produced during life. On the occasion of Tesla’s death, New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia held a commemorative speech on the radio.
Tesla’s funeral ceremony was attended by about 2,000 people, among which were a number of Nobel laureates. He was cremated, and the urn with his ashes is today located in the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade. At the time of his death, Tesla was working on “Teleforce” weapon, a “death ray” of a kind, which was meant for shooting down planes from the sky. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover labeled Tesla’s documents as most classified material, because they could be potentially dangerous in the enemy hands (it was the time of World War II). Finally, as the classified label was removed, the documents were inherited by Tesla’s nephew Sava Kosanović and are today kept in the mentioned Nikola Tesla Museum.
