"If only they will let me try out my new teleforce. If only they will let me show how this Nation can be made invulnerable to air attack. My new teleforce, is based on an entirely new principle of physics that nobody ever has dreamed of. It is different from the principle embodied in my inventions relating to the transmission of electrical power from a distance, for which I hold a number of basic patents.
This new type of force, would operate through a beam one one-hundred-millionth of a centimeter in diameter. It could be generated from a special plant that would cost no more than two million dollars and would take only about three months to construct.
A dozen such plants, located at strategic points along the coast, would be enough to defend this country against all possible aerial attack. This beam would melt any engine, whether Diesel or gasoline-driven. It would also ignite any explosives aboard any bomber. No possible defense against it could be devised, as the beam would be all-penetrating.“ [Nikola Tesla, “Proposing the ‘Death Ray’ For Defense.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 20, 1940.]
Tesla’s Vision for a World Without War: The Teleforce Beam
“I believe this invention could render war a thing of the past,” Nikola Tesla remarked, referring to an enigmatic device he termed the teleforce—a concentrated energy weapon that would later be labeled by the press as the “death ray.”
In a fervent interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 20, 1940, the seasoned inventor implored, “If only I were permitted to showcase my teleforce! I could illustrate to the world how to render this nation impervious to aerial assaults. This beam could incapacitate enemy aircraft engines long before they approached our shores—vanquishing bombers mid-flight.”
This was not mere fanciful chatter from a quirky genius. Tesla was the same visionary who had harnessed the tremendous force of Niagara Falls, unlocking its potential through his groundbreaking discovery of the rotating magnetic field. He had already transformed the world with his innovations in modern electrical power systems. As early as 1904, he anticipated the moment when the human voice would traverse the globe—a prediction that materialized through the very technologies his Tesla Coil helped to bring about.
To Tesla, teleforce represented not a means of annihilation, but a protective barrier. A strategy to render war obsolete. His ambition was not to conquer, but to dissuade. Not to take lives, but to safeguard them. Even in the twilight of his years, he envisioned a future where science would be a tool for peace.
“As soon as completed, it will be possible for a business man in New York to dictate instructions, and have them instantly appear in type at his office in London or elsewhere. He will be able to call up, from his desk, and talk to any telephone subscriber on the globe, without any change whatever in the existing equipment. An inexpensive instrument, not bigger than a watch, will enable its bearer to hear anywhere, on sea or land, music or song, the speech of a political leader, the address of an eminent man of science, or the sermon of an eloquent clergyman, delivered in some other place, however distant. In the same manner any picture, character, drawing, or print can be transferred from one to another place. Millions of such instruments can be operated from but one plant of this kind. More important than all of this, however, will be the transmission of power, without wires, which will be shown on a scale large enough to carry conviction. These few indications will be sufficient to show that the wireless art offers greater possibilities than any invention or discovery heretofore made, and if the conditions are favorable, we can expect with certitude that in the next few years wonders will be wrought by its application.” [Nikola Tesla, “The Future of the Wireless Art.” Wireless Telegraphy & Telephony. By Walter W. Massie & Charles R. Underhill, 1908, pp. 67-71.]