Fans Successfully Purchase Nikola Tesla’s Long Island Workshop to Turn it Into a Science Museum

<a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla" target="_blank">Nikola Tesla</a> fans will now have a place to pilgrimage to in order to honor the great scientist and inventor. A recent online campaign (<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/teslamuseum?c=gallery" target="_blank">Let's Build a Goddam Tesla Museum</a>) started by Matthew Inman of <a href="http://theoatmeal.com/blog/tesla_museum" target="_blank">The Oatmeal</a> raised over <a href="http://www.teslasciencecenter.org/2012/10/press-release-end-of-fundraising-campaign/" target="_blank">$1,370,511</a> with the help of 20,000 supporters and a grant of $850,000 from the state of New York to buy Tesla's only surviving workshop at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower" target="_blank">Wardenclyffe</a> on Long Island. The group just completed the purchase of the property and will be turning the historic place into the <a href="http://www.teslasciencecenter.org/" target="_blank">Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe</a>. We can hardly wait until the renovation is done to pay tribute to the master.

The Wardenclyffe building in Shoreham, Long Island is Nikola Tesla's last surviving workshop and was recently up for sale.

Fearing the historic property would be sold to those unsympathetic to Tesla and his work, Matthew Inman of the comic web site, <a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla" target="_blank">The Oatmeal</a>, began a IndieGoGo campaign to raise $850,000 so a group could get a matching grant from the New York State, which would provide enough money to purchase the 16-acre property.

The campaign was hugely successful and through the course of the 45-day fundraising period, the group raised $1.37 million and also received the grant for a total of $2.2 million.

On Friday, the <a href="http://www.teslasciencecenter.org/2012/10/press-release-end-of-fundraising-campaign/" target="_blank">Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe</a>, the group behind the movement, sealed the deal with the Agfa Corporation, owners of the property who had listed it at $1.6 million.

The building which will soon house the new museum.

The existing site as it now stands.

Work now will commence to restore the site, which includes a large brick structure designed by Tesla's friend Standford White.

The building, while severely dilapidated, still features the original brick construction, windows and rafters.

Back in 1903, Tesla erected a large wooden tower for his experiments, where one night it fired bolts of electricity into the sky.

The tower was Tesla's hope to transmit electricity wirelessly, but unfortunately it was dismantled and sold for scrap after Tesla sold the workshop to pay off his debts and his dream was never realized.

Extra funds raised by the campaign will go towards the restoration and renovation of the site to turn it into a museum dedicated to the inventor's work and legacy.

The campaign is IndieGoGo's fasted growing campaign ever.