Thayer School of Engineering and the Hopkins Center are celebrating Nikola Tesla this spring, in conjunction with Tesla in New York, an opera by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch & composer Phil Kline.  Thayer will host a Tesla TechFair, including a panel discussion and demonstrations, on Thursday, April 4, 2013, 4:00-6:00 PM.

Dartmouth students are invited to build and/or demonstrate a Tesla-related technology—something he developed, invented, pioneered, or patented, or the modern application thereof.  The demonstration should be interesting to engineers and non-engineers alike. Think remote control helicopters, Tesla coils, wireless chargers and death rays (just kidding: don’t kill anyone).  Selected proposals will receive up to $500 for materials and supplies.  Proposals are due March 8.

Need Inspiration?

Here’s a selection of Tesla inventions and their modern applications:

• AC power systems: the basis of the power grid.
• Induction motors: the electric motor used in everything from household appliances to giant industrial machines.  And in the Tesla Roadster.
• Radio remote control: uses range from garage doors to toy cars.
• Radio data transmission: Wi-Fi, 3G, and everything else.
• Wireless power transmission: Sounds like a fantasy but you can now wirelessly charge a cell phone or an industrial robot.
• Tesla coils.   Applications?  Tesla coils eat applications for breakfast.

For full details and an application form, here’s the call for entries.