“In order to get to know one another, we must reach beyond the sphere of what we perceive through the senses. We must transmit our intelligence, travel, transport material and transfer the energy necessary for our existence. In keeping with this thought, we must inevitably realise that, of all human achievements, the most desirable and the one that would be of greatest benefit in establishing universal peace in relations among people is the complete annihilation of distance. The one and only means of achieving this miracle is electrical energy. Invaluable benefits have already been achieved with the help of this powerful medium, the nature of which still remains a mystery.”
Nikola Tesla, “The Transmission of Electrical Energy Without Wires as Means For Furthering Peace”, Electrical World and Engineer, New York, 7 January 1905, p. 22.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the possibilities of Tesla’s World System were regarded merely as a scientific vision of a rapidly developing world. Thanks to the development of information and telecommunications technologies, Tesla’s vision of a world in which distance between people had been eliminated became a reality by the end of the same century. However, the improvement of relations among people and nations, which was the aim of Tesla’s work on wireless energy transmission, has not been achieved to an extent proportional to technological development.
Tesla was clearly aware that energy gives us power, but that it can equally lead us to self-destruction. Energy is not only the foundation of our existence; it is the fuel that makes everything in our lives real and possible. Since all life is limited by its need for energy, the search for energy shapes every living being, from the smallest cell to the most complex society, and drives the evolutionary process.
Energy is all around us! Physics defines energy as the ability of a body to perform work, while work is defined as the product of force and distance. In other words, work can be described as moving a certain mass from point A to point B. Therefore, wherever there is movement, work is being performed, which means that energy is being transformed. The world around us is in constant motion, from subatomic particles to the movement of stars and galaxies; humans and all living beings are constantly moving. All these movements around us, although we may not even be aware of them, are in fact transformations of energy. Energy can neither be created from nothing nor disappear; it can only be transformed from one form into another.
Throughout history, people have sought various ways to make work easier, lift heavier loads with less effort and travel more quickly from one place to another. When we speak about energy transformation, we are also speaking about human ingenuity in using different forms of energy found in nature to make everyday life easier. The history of energy transformation is the journey humanity has taken from its beginnings to the present day in gaining knowledge about different forms of energy and discovering how to convert them into useful forms for everyday life: from the strength of human and animal muscles, wind and water energy, the invention of steam engines and internal combustion engines, all the way to the use of electrical and nuclear energy.
The story of life on Earth is, at its core, a story about energy, so experience the power of positive energy and the inspiration of the scientific community through the programme of another Science Festival!
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