Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Question: What famous inventor lived and conducted experiments in Colorado Springs from 1899 to 1900?

Answer: At the turn of the twentieth century, Nikola Tesla moved to Colorado Springs, where he built a laboratory to study the effects of the region’s atmosphere on wireless energy transfer—telling one reporter he planned to transmit signals from Pikes Peak to Paris.

Tesla’s experiments, which involved generating artificial lightning bolts using a 52-foot Tesla coil, made him a mysterious figure in the then-rural mountain town. Tesla abandoned the laboratory in January 1900, and it was later dismantled to help pay off his debts.