Welcome to the Tesla Memorial Society of New York Website

Commemoration for Nikola Tesla's death held by the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, in Saborna Crkva, on January 23, 2006

Celebrating 150 years of Nikola Tesla's birth (1856-1943)

Nikola Tesla Year in 2006
Celebrations are underway in Serbia, Croatia, Republica Srbska, United States, Australia  and others

Above: Saborna Crkva

First Memorial Service after Tesla's Death by the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade on January 23, 2006 in Saborna Crkva

Above: (In Serbian) Website of the Serbian Orthodox Church, this section has information about the Commemoration for Nikola Tesla's death by the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, in Saborna Crkva, on January 23, 2006. 

Website address: http://www.spc.yu/Vesti-2006/01/11-01-06-c.html#tes

Above: (In Serbian) Poster Announcement of the Commemoration for Nikola Tesla's death on January 23, 2006 in Saborna Crkva, Belgrade.

Above: Saborna Crkva

Above: Belgrade, Serbia.

Belgrade: At the Crossroad between East and West, has imprinted on its soil the witness of a rich civilization
 

Above: The City of Belgrade, St. Sava Cathedral in foreground.

Above: Belgrade, St Sava Cathedral, the biggest and greatest cathedral in the Balkans.

Above: Belgrade, Monument of Karadjordje next to the St Sava Cathedral.

Above: Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) at the age of 38.

The Serbian Orthodox Church Sinod will hold a commemoration for Nikola Tesla in the famous Serbian Cathedral Saborna Crkva in Belgrade on January 23, 2006 at 11am.  All the members of the Sinod will be present for the occasion.  Episkop Backi Irinej will speak.  Notations will sent to the Tesla Memorial Society in Belgrade, members of the Museum of Nikola Tesla, Serbian Academy of Sciences, President of Serbia Boris Tadic, Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica and others.

Nikola Tesla died in Hotel New Yorker in Manhattan, on January 7, 1943 at the age of 86, in Suite 3327 on the 33rd Floor.  The funeral was held in the Church of St. John's the Divine in Manhattan on January 12, 1943.  2,000 people were present at his funeral.   Noble Prize winners were pallbearers.  telegrams of condolences were received from many notables including the first lady, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and Vice-President Wallace.  The eulogy of his death was given by Mayor LaGuardia of New York City over New York Radio on January 10, 1943.

Tesla's body was cremated and his ashes put in a golden sphere, Tesla's favorite shape, presently located in the Museum of Nikola Tesla in Belgrade.  According to the Serbian Orthodox Religion, the body should be buried not cremated.  Tesla was Serbian Orthodox, his father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest.  Father Irinej Dobrijevic is a distinguished member of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Tesla Memorial Society of New York Board Member.  Father Irinej presented documents to the Sinod of the Serbian Orthodox Church that the cremation of Nikola Tesla was not Tesla's wish but the decision of Tesla's nephew, Sava Kosanovic, Ambassador of Yugoslavia and son of Tesla's sister, Marica Kosanovic (see writings from Charlotte Muzar, Secretary of Sava Kosanovic). 

Nikola Tesla never wrote or expressed his wish to be cremated.  Tesla was a deeply religious man of the Serbian Orthodox Faith.  The decision for Tesla's cremation was solely on his nephew, Sava Kosanovic.

The Tesla Memorial Society of New York is grateful to Father Irinej Dobrijevic on his historical role for Tesla's commemoration.  Tesla Memorial Society of New York is also grateful to the members of our society who contributed with documents stating that Tesla's cremation was not his wish.  We thank Marko Vujovic, Web Designer of TMS, and Dr. Ljubo Vujovic, Secretary General of TMS,  Zeljko Saric, Secretary for Balkans of TMS, Prof. Aleksandar Marincic, member of Serbian Academy of Sciences, Prof. James Corum, Board Member of TMS, Jasmina Vujic, Vice President of TMS and Professor at University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Mihailo Rundo, Secretary for Germany of TMS.

Father Irinej Dobrijevich, previous Director, Office of Serbian Orthodox Church, Washington D.C.
Father Irinej Dobrijevich was awarded the highest Serbian Award "Vuk Karadzic"

Click here for Biography

Above: Letter from Prof. James Corum to Father Irinej Dobrijevich.

Above: Article in Serbian Newspaper "Vesti" announcing the commemoration for Nikola Tesla in Belgrade on January 23, 2006.

Above: The title of the book "Nikola Tesla and His Time" in which the Article (in Serbian) from Dushan Shoukletovic (below) appears.

Above: Article (in Serbian) from Dushan Shoukletovic, Dean of the Cathedral of St. Sava in Manhattan stating that the cremation of Nikola Tesla, January 1943, was not the wish of Tesla but the decision of his nephew Sava Kosanovich, Ambassador of Yugoslavia.