WIRELESS POWER (April 1, 2008)

As witnessed by its front cover, the pride of the current issue of Technology Review, which arrived in this morning’s mail, is a series of articles about ten emerging technologies of the year. One of these technologies is wireless power, which transmits electricity to various devices without the use of cables. Behind it is Miran Soljačić, an assistant professor of physics at MIT. In the background of his inventions is the work of Nikola Tesla, an inventor who thought it possible a century ago to beam electricity around the world, but whose work was eventually thwarted for lack of funds. Now, the main reason why the article dealing with Soljačić’s work attracted my attention was that I have already known about it from the Croatian press. He is Croatian. Nikola Tesla was a Croatian citizen, too, albeit of Serbian origin. That is, he was an Orthodox rather than Catholic Christian born on Croatian soil. Now, I am bringing all of this up because it is crucial to the Croatian media. Nay, it is more than crucial—it is absolutely vital. The amazing thing about the article from MIT’s magazine of innovation is that the nationality of either Soljačić or Tesla is never even mentioned. Neither is their religious background. After five years in Croatia, this comes as a surprise worth writing about. Alleluia! Alleluia!