Electrifying Edmonton and Celebrating Nikola Tesla Day on July 9, 2023

Our warmest thanks to the many who gathered under the Zeidler Dome at The TELUS World of Science– Edmonton, for a very memorable celebration of Nikola Tesla’s 167^th birthday and the 5^th year since Nikola Tesla Day was officially proclaimed in Edmonton.

Guests were treated to an exciting program of educational, informative and fun-filled activities related to this year’s theme of Electrifying Edmonton. As a warm-up to the program, children and adults alike perused the two exhibit tables displayed by the Nikola Tesla Historical Society of Alberta (NTHSA) and by the Edmonton Power Historical Foundation (EPHF). They were also intrigued by the demonstrations of various electrical experiments at the Syncrude Science Stage, including the impressive Tesla Coil. Matthew Green brought out the wonders of science and electricity with his Arcs and Sparks live show.

The program opened with both the NTHSA’s President, Lillian Beltaos, and Frank Florian from The TELUS World of Science – Edmonton, welcoming the audience.  Councillor Keren Tang followed with greetings from the City of Edmonton. She highlighted the importance of energy to the province and Tesla’s technological contributions to the world.

Our keynote speaker, Vic Djurdjevic, President of NTEC from Hamilton, brought the history of electrification in Canada and Edmonton to life with his slides and expert delivery of the topic. This dove-tailed perfectly with the Edmonton Power Historical Foundation’s exhibit of a LEGO model of the 1902 Rossdale Power Plant, and their High Level Bridge video.  A brief film produced by the NTHSA featured the story of Tesla’s birth on a dark and stormy midnight, rounded out by another movie, entitled Nikola Tesla: Spirit, Work, Vision, produced by the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade.

The program was further enlivened by a spellbinding laser light show that was synchronized to the music, Electricity, by the U.K. band, OMD, known for their audiovisual spectacles relating to Electricity. A brief but elegant musical and textual ending to this portion of the program was a video illustrating Nikola Tesla’s impact on the world, which concluded with a powerful visual of a lit-up globe of the world. The driving beat of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck captured the drama of the lightning storm surrounding Tesla’s birth.

A further fun-filled Tesla Quiz with the audience, including draws for various door prizes, coupled with a second opportunity to watch the science experiments at the Syncrude Science Stage, brought the celebration to an end. Masa Dobrijevic was the lucky winner of the miniature Tesla Coil and Plasma Ball!

A successful event of this scale requires an extensive team of experts. Thanks are extended to our wonderful M.C., Dr. Adam Bergren, for keeping the program on track, the NTHSA Board and volunteers, TELUS World of Science – Edmonton, the management, production and presentation team, and our partners and donors whose support was integral to our success.

Partners, Contributors and Donors

Nikola Tesla Historical Society of Alberta

TELUS World of Science – Edmonton

Edmonton Power Historical Foundation (EPHF) Leduc

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, (OMD), UK

Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade

Calgary Tesla Society

Nikola Tesla Educational Corporation, Hamilton

Edmonton Heritage Council

City of Edmonton, Community Services

Nova Hotels

Organizers, Presenters and Participants in the Program

Lillian D. Beltaos, NTHSA

Trevor Prentice, TELUS World of Science -- Edmonton

Frank Florian, TELUS World of Science – Edmonton

Matthew Green, TELUS World of Science -- Edmonton

Andrew Beltaos, NTHSA

Dr. Adam Bergren, Nanotechnology Research Centre, NRC

Councillor Keren Tang, City of  Edmonton                                                                                                                 

Djordje Srnic, NTHSA

Vic Djordjevic, NTEC, Hamilton

Lydia Emanuel, NTHSA

Dr. Branka Barl, NTHSA

Gary Millang, EPHF

Paul Collis, EPHF

Robert Litschel, NTHSA

Rebecca Wiltenburg, NTHSA

Capt. Terry Beltaos, NTHSA

David Ballantyne, NTHSA