Search the entire archive like a dossier index.

Tesla’s Death Ray and the Myth of a Directed Energy Weapon

Tesla’s death ray is one of the most enduring weapon myths in fringe technology culture. Usually traced to Nikola Tesla’s 1934 teleforce announcements, the claim held that he had devised a defensive particle-beam system powerful enough to destroy aircraft hundreds of miles away, even though Tesla rejected the phrase death ray, no accepted working prototype was ever demonstrated, and the story later grew far beyond the evidence.