The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is home to some of the world's greatest minds. M.I.T. researchers are on the forefront of innovation, including the development of wireless transmission of power. Efficient wireless transmission of electricity has eluded scientists for years. Radio waves, microwaves and even laser-beam transmission of power have fallen short. But in 2007, M.I.T. researchers were able to safely transmit power wirelessly seven feet across a room... a feat heralded as a first step to cutting the power cord. Incredibly, a word in which all electrical devices would be would be automatically powered at all times, requiring no charging or or wires, was envisioned more than a century earlier by inventor Nikola Tesla. And by some accounts, he was close to actually achieving that goal. THOMAS VALONE: The ideas of Tesla for wireless power have only been, um, briefly investigated by various scientists. And the tests that were done by Tesla in 1899 to 1900 in Colorado Springs verify the fact that the use of wireless was actually possible. SEIFER: Tesla went out to Colorado Springs to see if he could send electricity several miles, which is a tremendous achievement, but he had a huge tower. It was 200 feet to the top. His assistant was located at the laboratory and Tesla said, "When I give you the signal, I want you to throw the switch and fire up the wireless system. And Tesla probably walked four miles away. Tesla inserted lightbulbs into the earth to see if his tower was in fact creating a wireless circuit with the ground. If so, the bulbs would light up. SEIFER: These lightbulbs were being lit, so he was able to establish that he could transmit electrical power over great distances. But he did keep it a secret. He even kept the mechanics a secret from his assistant, who didn't totally know all the details of what he was doing. Shoreham, New York. 1901. Tesla convinces banker J.P. Morgan to give him $150,000 for the construction of a radio station. But instead, he uses the money to build a giant wireless transmitter he calls Wardenclyffe Tower. SEIFER: Wardenclyffe was 187 feet to the top, but it also went 120 feet down into the ground. And Tesla had envisioned receiving stations, which would look just like the Wardenclyffe Tower at different nodal points around the Earth. He would jump energy by means of wireless from station to station. He even thought that he could eventually use the same system to jump power to different planets.
But Tesla's dream of creating a highly efficient broadcast of wireless electricity was cut short when 1904, its funder J.P. Morgan discovered Tesla's true intentions to provide free power to everyone on the planet. With lack of additional funding, by 1908, the project was completely abandoned. And in 1917, the tower was demolished. REDFERN: No company, no corporation wants to give away its technology freely. So Tesla was shut down, so that the world wouldn't have free energy. But just how was Tesla able to transmit electricity wirelessly for for several miles when modern scientists can only manage seven can only manage seven feet? Tesla credited his many inventions to the ability to realize them entirely in his mind. He also described experiencing intense flashes of light, which were followed by moments of intense creativity and clarity. SCHWARTZ: He would see an invention appear before his eyes in almost holographic detail. He said that he could rotate these visions, take them apart piece by piece, and he knew exactly how he was going to build these inventions based on his visionary experiences. SEIFER: One of his greatest creations is the rotating magnetic and that came in a flash of intuition. He felt that we were receivers, that all impulses came from the outside, and that we worked on these impulses. So, he doesn't believe that they come from dreams or inner visions. He really felt that we were, in a sense, self-propelled robots.
NARRATOR: Some ancient astronaut theorists believe there may be another explanation for Tesla's uncanny abilities and mysterious visions. They suggest these spontaneous episodes are proof that Tesla was receiving information from an otherworldly source. TZADOK: These images would literally burst into his mind. Somehow, somewhere, some connection was made. And it's the same way the biblical prophets received their prophecy. Nikola Tesla was clearly in touch with something. CHILDRESS: You have to wonder if extraterrestrials themselves weren't feeding him images of inventions that only he could understand. SWARTZ: Nikola Tesla felt there was a knowledge base, located somewhere in the universe, that all of humanity could tap into if they just knew how to properly tune their mind to this knowledge base. NARRATOR: Is it possible Nikola Tesla was actually being fed images to assist him in furthering mankind? And if so, could Tesla have tapped into an ancient source of knowledge, perhaps even rediscovering technology that may have been used before. TSOUKALOS: We have these stories of towers that might have relayed energy-- like the obelisks that we can find all around the world-- that they, at some point, were all connected and that they were feeding off the Earth's magnetic grid. SWARTZ: It's been discovered, in ancient Egyptian temples and tombs, carvings that look suspiciously like modern-day lightbulbs and Tesla coils. CHILDRESS: Was there a certain technology, certain technology, an energy system of ancient times that we still have remnants of today? Giant pyramids, obelisks, huge standing stones and towers... Perhaps they were all part of some extraterrestrial, huge energy system. NARRATOR: Was Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower meant to connect to an ancient energy grid powered not only by the Earth, but eventually by other planets, as well? And if so, is it possible Nikola Tesla was communicating with advanced celestial beings that visited Earth thousands of years ago? Perhaps the answer can be found by examining the mysterious radio transmissions Tesla claimed he received from outer space. (thunder crashes) NARRATOR: Colorado Springs. July, 1899. While testing a magnifying transmitter he built to track storms, Nikola Tesla claims he received some sort of transmission from an unknown source. (thunder crashes) SEIFER: One night, he was tracking thunderstorms 600 miles away. But all of a sudden, he heard these beeps. (three chiming sounds) And it was three beats in sequence. And so it was mathematical and it didn't make any sense to him. And the more he thought about it, he thought that they came from outer space, perhaps from the Martians. (three chiming sounds) BRANDENBURG: Mars' orbit brings it close to the Earth periodically, about once every 1.8 years. And at one of those close encounters, uh, he believed he was picking up signals from Mars. VALONE: He most likely had made a receiver that was sensitive enough to receive radio waves, as we now know come from galaxies and-and lots of different extraterrestrial sources. So he interpreted them as signals from ETs. But perhaps he had an open channel that we really still don't understand today. SEIFER: Tesla believed it's absurd to think we're the only intelligent beings in the universe. If that's the case, where are they in the intelligence hierarchy and why wouldn't they want to communicate with an intelligent force on the Earth? "
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