Nikola Tesla Expo celebrates inventor's birthday, marks dedication of center after fire

Science lovers became part of a static electricity experiment that raised their hair Saturday at the annual Nikola Tesla Expo in Shoreham.

Held at Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, the event drew about 2,000 visitors from across Long Island to honor the inventor and engineer with exhibits, demonstrations, food vendors and an evening drone show.

"It's a great way to learn about this important historic figure, and it's a way to tie this historic figure back to Long Island history, which I'm very proud of," said Kara Cannon, the center's executive director. 

This year's expo commemorated Tesla's 170th birthday and the country's Semiquincentennial, as well as the dedication of the Sayan Visitor Center. Construction on the museum began in April 2023 with plans to restore Tesla's laboratory and build a visitors center. A fire in November of that year destroyed much of the 1,000-square-foot building, which is said to be Tesla's last remaining lab, and caused about $3.5 million in damage, Newsday previously reported.

"We had this fire that was very unfortunate that set us back, and so today is a huge milestone because we just had a few people on the site to announce that we are in the final stages of completing the first usable structure on the site," Cannon said of the Sayan Center, which is named after Eugene Sayan, a science-focused philanthropist who donated to the museum.

The completed visitor center will fully open to the public in the fall.

Cannon said the goal of the museum and exhibition is to inoculate a love of science in Long Island youth.

Entertainment at this year's exhibition included a science showman with a human conductivity exhibit, a meteorologist who explained storm science and an ornithologist teaching with live owls.

MikeyLynn Hempfling, 9, an attendee from Miller Place, said she loved that the event let her "explore all the fun stuff, and that you get to learn about how Nikola Tesla invented things, and other things that you didn't know about, like electricity and all that."

Laura Macivor, 62, of East Northport, said the expo's focus on teaching children about science was especially important.

"I think it's getting buried in social media and AI, what other things you can do with science, like free energy, as a possibility," Macivor said.

At the Custer Observatory's booth, viewers peered through a solar prominence telescope, which allows viewers to see the sun's texture.

"So often we're taught in the context of, 'this is how we approach the textbooks of it,' but we don't actually see the impacts," said John Kongoletos, a Custer board member. "So much of what we do from the engineering fields, as on the applied side, is kind of trying to bridge those barriers early, so folks understand the end goal as well as how we get there."

Steven Matza, the owner of Consolidated Aircraft at Long Island MacArthur Airport, hosted a booth with many of Tesla's inventions, including wires with alternating currents, a ball with a radio signal and a tachometer.

"We work on high-voltage electrical power systems on aircraft, and that's all related to Mr. Nikola Tesla, going back over 100 years," Matza said. "Mr. Tesla puts food on my table, and all these are Tesla inventions."