# Canonical recap data for Tesla's Wireless Power Transmission Demonstration (1891)
# Source: https://recap.at/1891/tesla-wireless-power-1891
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: tesla-wireless-power-1891
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1891/tesla-wireless-power-1891"
title: Tesla's Wireless Power Transmission Demonstration
subtitle: Nikola Tesla's public demonstration of wireless electrical transmission at his New York laboratory pioneered concepts that would influence wireless technology for generations.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1891-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1891
decade: 1890
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: The World Wireless System was a turn of the 20th century proposed telecommunications and electrical power delivery system designed by inventor Nikola Tesla based on his theories of using Earth and its atmosphere as electrical conductors. He claimed this system would allow for "the transmission of electric energy withou
summaryLong: The World Wireless System was a turn of the 20th century proposed telecommunications and electrical power delivery system designed by inventor Nikola Tesla based on his theories of using Earth and its atmosphere as electrical conductors. He claimed this system would allow for "the transmission of electric energy without wires" on a global scale as well as point-to-point wireless telecommunications and broadcasting. He made public statements citing two related methods to accomplish this from the mid-1890s on. By the end of 1900 he had convinced banker J. P. Morgan to finance construction of a wireless station based on his ideas intended to transmit messages across the Atlantic to England and to ships at sea. His decision to change the design to include wireless power transmission to better compete with Guglielmo Marconi's new radio based telegraph system was met with Morgan's refusal to fund the changes. The project was abandoned in 1906, never to become operational.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Tesla_Broadcast_Tower_1904.jpeg/1280px-Tesla_Broadcast_Tower_1904.jpeg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "World Wireless System"
importance: 78
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wireless_System"
  title: Tesla wireless system
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: The World Wireless System was a turn of the 20th century proposed telecommunications and electrical power delivery system designed by inventor Nikola Tesla base
wikidataQid: Q17098863
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260410120429/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wireless_System"
  capturedAt: 2026-04-10
  label: Tesla wireless system
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wireless_System"
