Extraterrestrial

Nikola Tesla once picked up a strange signal that he thought could be alien

By T.K. Randall
March 17, 2024 ·  65 comments

Tesla dreamed of a way to transmit electricity wirelessly. Image Credit: Warwick Goble There are few people who have contributed more to the widespread implementation of electricity in the modern world than Tesla - a man whose accolades range from pioneering the use of alternating current to conducting experiments designed to transmit electricity wirelessly through the air.

Even today, a great deal of mystery and intrigue surrounds exactly what Tesla had managed to achieve and the extent to which his inventions have helped to shape the modern world.

Back in 1899, for example, Tesla became aware that his equipment had picked up a strange signal that, according to his written records of the incident, seemed to have unnerved him greatly.

"Even now, at times, I can vividly recall the incident, and see my apparatus as though it were actually before me," he wrote. "My first observations positively terrified me, as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night."

The signal, which comprised of a series of beeps, did not seem to have a known source of origin."It was sometime afterward when the thought flashed upon my mind that the disturbances I had observed might be due to an intelligent control," he wrote.

"Although I could not decipher their meaning, it was impossible for me to think of them as having been entirely accidental. The feeling is constantly growing on me that I had been the first to hear the greeting of one planet to another."

So did Tesla really pick up a signal sent by intelligent extraterrestrials ?

In later years, astronomers determined that what the inventor had picked up was most likely "intense kilometric (VLF) emissions originating from Jupiter", rather than an intelligent alien signal.

Even so, the precise nature and origins of Tesla's mystery signal continue to intrigue even to this day.

Source: IFL Science | Comments (65)

Tags: Tesla