Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk responds to The Oatmeal‘s Matthew Inman’s request for his support for the museum.
The Nikola Tesla Science Center is one big step closer to becoming operational. Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is donating $1 million dollars towards the completion of the museum. Musk will also build a Tesla Supercharger station in the parking lot of the museum. The announcement, made today (on Nikola Tesla’s 158th birthday) are in response to requests made by The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman to have the Tesla Motor Company, and Musk in particular, support the project. The Tesla Motor Company, whose fully electric cars rival luxury car sales in some states, is named after the inventor and his AC induction motor, which each Tesla car uses.
Nikola Tesla was a revolutionary inventor and engineer whose patents and experiments ranged from radio waves, x-rays, and alternating current. The Tesla Science Center purchased the inventor’s lab, Wardenclyffee at Shoreham, New York, in 2012. The purchase was made possible through an Indiegogo campaign led by Matthew Inman, the cartoonist behind The Oatmeal webcomic. The campaign raised over $1.3 million dollars, and along with grant of $850,000 from New York State, had enough to purchase the lab and protect it from future development. However, in order to convert the lab into a functioning museum, Inman and the Tesla Science Centre need to raise about $8 million. After reviewing his Tesla Model S on The Oatmeal, Inman produced a second comic detailing the efforts behind the museum and asking Musk to consider donating further to its development. Musk had previously donated $2,500 during the Indiegogo campaign.
$1 million from Elon Musk! And a supercharging station! Thank you, Mr. Musk!!!— Tesla Science Center (@teslascience) July 10, 2014
No other museum dedicated to Nikola Tesla exists in the United States. The Tesla Science Center still has about $7 million dollars to raise to make the museum a reality, but Musk’s donation is a great start.
Source: The Oatmeal
