Reflections on How We Began and Where We are Now
By Lillian D. Beltaos, President, NTHSA
On July 10, 2016 – nearly ten years ago, three of us, Harold Hornig, Bill Bromling and I, met in a local restaurant to talk about Nikola Tesla and his 160th birthday. A short time later, on July 11, 2016 we submitted the paperwork to register a non-profit Society in honour of this great inventor. Then, on July 22, 2016 we became a registered Alberta Society: Nikola Tesla Historical Society of Alberta, informally known as Alberta's Tesla Wave.
We set up a website with our vision, mission and objectives – living documents – and proceeded to build up the memberships, held a few socials and discussions, and reached out to form some partnerships. The entire focus of the Society was to be on innovation, science and education.
On July 10, 2017 we celebrated Nikola Tesla's 161st birthday with two talks that were very well received by the audience. Dr. Allan Offenberger spoke about Tesla's discoveries focusing on AC, and also provided us with a perspective on other giants of that time period. Dr. Marija NikolicJaric connected Tesla's early interest in using electrical current for medicinal applications and gave a mind-boggling presentation on the impact of electrical current on living cells. It was a fascinating multimedia presentation and we could have stayed another hour or two to just listen to these folks.
We followed up with a couple of trivia questions related to Tesla. Ms. Lydia Emanuel gave the closest answer to how many patents Tesla had – this is still a mystery – and Mr. Gene Emanuel was the first to answer that, come 2019, Volvo will be producing electric vehicles only. This couple was asked to cut Tesla's birthday cake. A display of books on Tesla was inviting as were the beverages and goodies provided. The Tesla Plasma bulb – to now be our fixture at similar events – kept reminding us of Tesla's wireless technology and his brightness bursting out of the bulb.
Thanks to those who founded the Society, sat on the Board throughout the year and all the members for their support and who assisted with the logistics of the events. Special thanks to our speakers and to Dr. Rob Agostinis for capturing the event on his camera.
Founding Members of the Society:
- Lillian D. Beltaos
- Harold Hornig
- Dr. Rob Agostinis
- Vesna Farnden
- Dr. Moira Walker
Achievements and Milestones
Now, with almost ten years behind us, we have a rich history of achievements. Each year we try to outdo ourselves, and we have always done so: from the proclamation of Nikola Tesla Day in Edmonton in 2019, to public science lecture series, to a three-year innovation award for Lakeland College senior students, to working with Telus World of Science – Edmonton on the celebration of Nikola Tesla Days.
One of our own ‘innovations’ took place in 2020 when COVID stopped in-person events and when we pulled together Tesla enthusiasts from all over Canada in making the movie Tesla Tales Across Canada. This was the first national celebration of Nikola Tesla’s birthday to be followed up by another film in 2021: Tesla Tales Across Time, and most recently the first global celebration of Tesla’s birthday with yet another movie: Tesla Tales Across the Globe.
A couple of years ago, we were successful in our application with Athabasca University and the Calgary Tesla Society to MITACS, a Canadian funding body for research in science. The project’s title was Tesla in Canadian Science Textbooks, and research continues with Athabasca University on determining the degree of representation of Nikola Tesla in Canadian Textbooks from K-12 and at the post-secondary level. Once the research is published, it will represent a pilot for study and methodology of related topics.
When the National Research Council staged Science Literacy Week, we partnered and participated in these annual events, providing presentations on a variety of scientific topics such as renewable energy. Another way we promoted science in the community was by having Nikola Tesla displays in Edmonton Public Libraries.
Last and definitely not the least, our science lectures – list attached – always included a Science Byte in the program, which was a brief introduction to a scientist who the audience might not have been familiar with. Some of these were Hypatia, Thales of Miletus, and our own Edmontonian Dr. Aleksandar Kostov.
And the final word…
Each event also included Tesla Tales. This was an open floor for anyone in the audience to tell a tale about Tesla. These were interactive, informative and fun tidbits about Nikola Tesla as a scientist and as a person. We learn collectively.
Our success to date would not be possible without the support of our members and donors. Dr. Lela Maslesha has been the main donor for years and we are grateful for her support. The Serbian Community of Edmonton rose to the challenge of fund-raising for the MITACS project. A tall order for us, but the community responded well, proud of its Tesla’s heritage. On that note, I’d also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the Edmonton Heritage Council for their donations.
We believe that we are raising the bar for general science awareness in Alberta, and are an important supplement to formal learning, while also inspiring minds of all ages, to pursue innovation and discovery. In our opinion, Nikola Tesla is the best role model that we have! Our work continues.
Photo Gallery
Nov 2016 1st Meeting in Session
From left to right: Dr. Bradley Kerr, Ms. Vesna Farnden, Dr. Moira Walker, Dr. Elaine Beltaos-Kerr, Ms. Lillian D. Beltaos
26.11.2025 Edmonton
www.teslawave.org