1 00:00:01,626 --> 00:00:05,375 They were once the most advanced buildings and structures on the planet. 2 00:00:07,626 --> 00:00:11,500 The best achievements in design and construction . 3 00:00:12,542 --> 00:00:16,876 Today they are abandoned, polluted and deadly. 4 00:00:18,584 --> 00:00:24,125 These empty buildings are filled with the lost lives of real people, 5 00:00:24,834 --> 00:00:29,417 leaving many questions unanswered and mysteries unresolved. 6 00:00:36,542 --> 00:00:40,751 In this series, we connect to the history of electricity and explore, 7 00:00:41,125 --> 00:00:45,375 or a huge structure rusting in a contaminated zone near Chernobyl 8 00:00:45,876 --> 00:00:48,250 could have unleashed World War III. 9 00:00:51,334 --> 00:00:55,667 150 meters high, 450 meters long, and then? 10 00:00:55,876 --> 00:01:00,500 It has a fraction of the computing power of any computer from the 70s 11 00:01:00,626 --> 00:01:04,334 and if something had gone wrong, World War III would have started. 12 00:01:09,542 --> 00:01:15,500 We explore the remains of Nikola Tesla's generator on Long Island and ask, 13 00:01:16,250 --> 00:01:20,918 whether his plan to supply the planet with unlimited electricity would have worked. 14 00:01:22,334 --> 00:01:28,083 He tried to develop the transmission of electricity without wires. 15 00:01:28,209 --> 00:01:32,334 Because Tesla coils create and transmit radio waves. 16 00:01:39,209 --> 00:01:43,626 A sophisticated control room in the heart of Hungary 's oldest power plant 17 00:01:43,876 --> 00:01:48,209 reveals the belief that electricity will create a new and better world. 18 00:01:50,250 --> 00:01:53,459 We see it as a projection of the future for everyone. 19 00:01:53,584 --> 00:01:58,709 Trying to show your country and people that you are progressive, 20 00:01:58,834 --> 00:02:01,167 that you are entering a new era. 21 00:02:04,125 --> 00:02:07,792 And we ask why the brilliant mathematician has been forgotten, 22 00:02:08,417 --> 00:02:10,918 although the construction he invented 23 00:02:11,042 --> 00:02:14,542 have been used to create the world's largest buildings. 24 00:02:18,042 --> 00:02:23,334 It is a work of art and engineering, it is mathematics. 25 00:02:32,125 --> 00:02:34,584 Abandoned Buildings 26 00:02:35,125 --> 00:02:37,209 Energy demand 27 00:02:40,667 --> 00:02:45,542 The strange power of electricity has puzzled mankind for centuries. 28 00:02:46,918 --> 00:02:49,167 By the end of the 19th century, scientists discovered the possibility 29 00:02:49,584 --> 00:02:54,834 how it can be applied in addition to electricity production . 30 00:02:55,876 --> 00:02:59,709 As a result, life on Earth became quite different. 31 00:03:03,042 --> 00:03:05,918 In eastern Ukraine near the Russian border 32 00:03:06,125 --> 00:03:10,375 houses one of the most unusual electrical facilities ever built. 33 00:03:15,584 --> 00:03:20,417 A huge network of steel beams and cables rises above the ground, 34 00:03:20,959 --> 00:03:26,542 which, if it is not blowing in the wind at the moment, stands perfectly still. 35 00:03:30,042 --> 00:03:34,250 Once the whole world could hear this amazing machine. 36 00:03:34,959 --> 00:03:37,417 This is Duga's "Woodpecker". 37 00:03:39,792 --> 00:03:43,792 Looking at the woodpecker, you think, "Oh, this is post-apocalyptic." 38 00:03:43,999 --> 00:03:48,751 This is a movie setting where you could see James Bond or Bruce Willis. 39 00:03:48,876 --> 00:03:52,834 The eerie silence here makes you think, 40 00:03:53,209 --> 00:03:57,876 so that a film could be made here about a civilization that abandoned Mars. 41 00:04:01,667 --> 00:04:06,167 500 meters long and 150 meters high. 42 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:09,709 Duga "Over the horizon" radar system 43 00:04:09,959 --> 00:04:12,918 was created in the dark days of the Cold War. 44 00:04:14,709 --> 00:04:18,334 But what role did it play in decades of global tension? 45 00:04:22,250 --> 00:04:28,375 The idea of ​​an over-the-horizon radar was born in the late 40s, 46 00:04:28,584 --> 00:04:34,209 before that, the Americans had built the so-called Early Warning Line, 47 00:04:34,417 --> 00:04:39,250 which consisted of an array of dozens of radar devices 48 00:04:39,375 --> 00:04:44,834 and the Canadian Far East was covered by radars 49 00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:47,500 and even if you put them on mountain tops, 50 00:04:47,918 --> 00:04:54,584 cannot see with such radars even in the best conditions 51 00:04:54,792 --> 00:04:58,375 further than about a hundred kilometers away. 52 00:04:58,542 --> 00:05:00,834 Over-the-horizon radar 53 00:05:01,292 --> 00:05:05,584 gives the ability to scan the area 54 00:05:05,876 --> 00:05:09,334 within a radius of thousands of kilometers. 55 00:05:17,626 --> 00:05:22,667 Duga was a modern facility that was supposed to take advantage of the ionosphere 56 00:05:22,999 --> 00:05:25,250 The upper layer of the Earth's atmosphere. 57 00:05:27,709 --> 00:05:31,292 It must be remembered that the Earth is, of course, curved, 58 00:05:31,459 --> 00:05:35,876 it sets limits on any wave, 59 00:05:35,999 --> 00:05:40,792 that the radar could send out. Basically to the horizon. 60 00:05:41,082 --> 00:05:44,000 So if you want to see things further away, 61 00:05:44,167 --> 00:05:48,876 you have to make the wave bend around the curvature of the Earth. 62 00:05:48,999 --> 00:05:52,834 Fortunately, we have the ionosphere, 63 00:05:52,959 --> 00:05:56,250 which reflects the low frequencies sent by the radar 64 00:05:56,375 --> 00:06:00,375 they don't get through it, they bounce back 65 00:06:00,542 --> 00:06:04,542 you can aim your waves further and then back again. 66 00:06:06,375 --> 00:06:10,626 Of course, this can be done with the help of computers, 67 00:06:10,751 --> 00:06:16,167 which calculate possible frequency changes, 68 00:06:16,292 --> 00:06:20,500 which is needed to bounce the waves back from the ionosphere 69 00:06:20,626 --> 00:06:23,667 and of course to come back from the ionosphere 70 00:06:23,792 --> 00:06:28,417 and your radar must have a powerful transmitter and receiver. 71 00:06:28,667 --> 00:06:32,834 Even for the most sophisticated modern radar, 72 00:06:32,959 --> 00:06:36,584 like the Over the Horizon apparatus, these things can't be tiny. 73 00:06:36,709 --> 00:06:38,999 These devices were huge. 74 00:06:46,999 --> 00:06:50,042 Having the ability to detect approaching missiles, 75 00:06:50,375 --> 00:06:53,542 Duga would have been on the front lines of every future war. 76 00:06:54,500 --> 00:06:56,626 But would it have worked? 77 00:06:56,918 --> 00:07:01,918 It is not known how this thing would have worked, now we know more, 78 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:06,459 we understand the ionosphere and things like that better, 79 00:07:06,584 --> 00:07:10,918 as the picture has become clearer, 80 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:14,334 we know that the ionosphere is not a perfectly smooth layer, 81 00:07:14,459 --> 00:07:16,626 there are variations on this. 82 00:07:16,792 --> 00:07:22,667 That means it's not as easy to triangulate with 83 00:07:22,792 --> 00:07:26,876 as with normal radar where the signal is currently coming from, 84 00:07:26,999 --> 00:07:30,751 how far it is since the signal can bounce in many ways. 85 00:07:35,125 --> 00:07:39,500 The Soviets knew that a nuclear missile could arrive in a few minutes, 86 00:07:40,250 --> 00:07:44,417 so fast and accurate signal reading was vital. 87 00:07:45,375 --> 00:07:48,042 A wrong reading could spell disaster. 88 00:07:51,167 --> 00:07:54,125 There is always a human element involved in such things. 89 00:07:54,250 --> 00:07:56,959 Unfortunately, even the best scientists, 90 00:07:57,042 --> 00:08:02,250 the human brain can detect patterns that are not actually there. 91 00:08:02,542 --> 00:08:07,667 Yes, under tension you can see things, imagine things, 92 00:08:07,792 --> 00:08:12,292 think about what time it was then: the Cold War and the like. 93 00:08:12,584 --> 00:08:17,167 People under stress want this warning system to work. 94 00:08:17,292 --> 00:08:19,417 There could have been a huge number of warnings. 95 00:08:22,542 --> 00:08:26,500 The woodpecker is a confirmation of the fact that big does not mean best. 96 00:08:26,959 --> 00:08:31,417 150 meters high, 450 meters long, and then? 97 00:08:31,542 --> 00:08:37,125 It has a fraction of the computing power of any computer from the 70s , 98 00:08:37,542 --> 00:08:42,042 which meant that the results had to be interpreted by an individual, 99 00:08:42,417 --> 00:08:45,542 who is human to begin with. And when a person errs, 100 00:08:45,667 --> 00:08:50,250 if he thinks a missile is approaching, not a bird, 101 00:08:50,375 --> 00:08:54,459 what caused this fluctuation, so what? 102 00:08:54,584 --> 00:08:56,584 Then World War III begins. 103 00:09:07,292 --> 00:09:09,292 Like all similar facilities, 104 00:09:09,459 --> 00:09:13,334 the construction and work of Duga was shrouded in secrecy. 105 00:09:14,709 --> 00:09:18,167 But it was a mistake by the Soviet authorities with the frequencies, 106 00:09:18,334 --> 00:09:22,042 which betrayed the whole game and gave Duga a nickname. 107 00:09:23,999 --> 00:09:30,083 The Russian radar was almost like a woodpecker, 108 00:09:30,209 --> 00:09:35,459 when you heard those radar signals, it went tock-tock-tock-tock-tock. 109 00:09:36,542 --> 00:09:41,999 The radar signals themselves tended to interfere 110 00:09:42,209 --> 00:09:46,500 and interrupt normal civil frequencies, 111 00:09:46,626 --> 00:09:50,542 including aeronautical frequencies. 112 00:09:50,751 --> 00:09:55,292 They should have changed the frequency due to international complaints . 113 00:09:56,500 --> 00:10:00,667 Woodpecker's intervention continued until 1986. 114 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:07,709 The location of the dugout was chosen in such a way that it would receive sufficient electricity 115 00:10:08,083 --> 00:10:11,459 from the nearby Chernobyl nuclear power plant. 116 00:10:13,375 --> 00:10:17,334 When the fourth reactor of the power plant exploded on April 26, 117 00:10:17,542 --> 00:10:20,417 radiation contaminated a huge area. 118 00:10:21,375 --> 00:10:25,626 The entire Duga complex and accommodation for its thousand workers 119 00:10:25,918 --> 00:10:28,042 was left overnight. 120 00:10:29,375 --> 00:10:33,709 Woodpecker brilliantly sums up the entire Cold War. 121 00:10:34,042 --> 00:10:39,083 Science and technology did not develop fast enough at that time, 122 00:10:39,209 --> 00:10:42,542 thus was built on a large scale. To discourage. 123 00:10:43,042 --> 00:10:46,500 In the end it was never used. 124 00:10:46,626 --> 00:10:53,125 And now it stands quietly decaying in the middle of the Chernobyl danger zone. 125 00:10:53,375 --> 00:10:58,626 Maybe this is the picture in front of our eyes when we look up at Rähn. 126 00:10:59,542 --> 00:11:01,709 Thank Heaven it was never used. 127 00:11:07,167 --> 00:11:12,375 The once powerful Woodpecker lies abandoned in the Ukrainian forest 128 00:11:13,125 --> 00:11:16,375 as a degenerate reminder of the fear of an all-destructive nuclear war. 129 00:11:17,042 --> 00:11:20,667 Its demolition is too expensive and impossible to use. 130 00:11:22,542 --> 00:11:24,876 Abandoned Buildings 131 00:11:25,042 --> 00:11:27,751 Energy demand 132 00:11:28,459 --> 00:11:31,042 Abandoned Buildings 133 00:11:31,626 --> 00:11:34,125 Energy demand 134 00:11:37,959 --> 00:11:42,709 Duga Rähn is not the only notable remnant of the Cold War. 135 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,083 In the Istra forest near Moscow 136 00:11:47,292 --> 00:11:50,000 is a smaller but equally horrible facility. 137 00:11:52,292 --> 00:11:54,959 Looking like a relic from a sci-fi movie, 138 00:11:55,250 --> 00:11:59,042 Marx's machine is actually an electrical generator. 139 00:12:01,709 --> 00:12:05,459 But the energy generated by Marx's machine dwarfed its rivals. 140 00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:10,500 In a fraction of a second, it was able to create an artificial lightning bolt, 141 00:12:11,542 --> 00:12:15,709 which had more energy than all Russian power plants combined. 142 00:12:18,459 --> 00:12:20,626 But what was its purpose? 143 00:12:24,459 --> 00:12:28,999 In the 70s, the East and the West had nuclear arsenals 144 00:12:29,250 --> 00:12:32,751 too equal to risk attacking first. 145 00:12:34,584 --> 00:12:39,667 So Nsvl looked for a way to block US missiles. 146 00:12:43,334 --> 00:12:49,209 Both sides had very different fences and systems. 147 00:12:49,334 --> 00:12:55,125 We had a pretty good idea of ​​their missile capabilities. 148 00:12:55,250 --> 00:12:58,500 And I believe they knew quite well, 149 00:12:58,751 --> 00:13:02,209 what are the capabilities of our weapons. 150 00:13:05,167 --> 00:13:08,125 One of the side effects of exploding nuclear weapons is that 151 00:13:08,626 --> 00:13:14,459 that they generate a powerful electromagnetic pulse 152 00:13:14,959 --> 00:13:17,542 or EMP knocking all electronics out of line, 153 00:13:17,876 --> 00:13:20,542 including missile targeting systems. 154 00:13:23,334 --> 00:13:25,918 Lightning also produces an EMF. 155 00:13:27,125 --> 00:13:30,834 Soviet scientists believed that if they created a machine, 156 00:13:30,959 --> 00:13:33,417 which would apply the crushing force of lightning, 157 00:13:33,792 --> 00:13:37,000 they could cripple the US missile arsenal. 158 00:13:39,751 --> 00:13:44,167 We had cruise missiles, which were our most powerful weapons. 159 00:13:44,834 --> 00:13:49,167 To attack Soviet airspace because they flew low 160 00:13:49,292 --> 00:13:53,999 and it was very difficult to catch them on the radar 161 00:13:54,083 --> 00:14:00,375 certainly not to the early warning system radars of the 1970s . 162 00:14:03,417 --> 00:14:05,876 The technology used in the Marx machine 163 00:14:06,083 --> 00:14:11,459 began with the invention of the 19th century, the electric generator, or coil. 164 00:14:13,375 --> 00:14:18,584 Coils are good at generating and receiving radio waves 165 00:14:18,792 --> 00:14:21,459 or electromagnetic waves of any kind. 166 00:14:21,584 --> 00:14:24,417 In addition, they inherently carry energy, 167 00:14:24,542 --> 00:14:29,417 so you turn electrical energy into electromagnetic energy, 168 00:14:29,542 --> 00:14:31,584 which can now be transmitted. 169 00:14:35,792 --> 00:14:38,876 Most of the work on electromagnetic energy 170 00:14:39,042 --> 00:14:43,500 were made by the German scientist Edwin Marx in the 1920s 171 00:14:43,667 --> 00:14:46,000 and Russian Vladimir Arkadyev. 172 00:14:48,250 --> 00:14:52,417 Working under cover of secrecy, the Soviets developed their own theories, 173 00:14:52,542 --> 00:14:57,751 to create their own Arkadyev-Marx High Voltage Research Center. 174 00:14:59,876 --> 00:15:06,375 To apply these electricity and magnetism tricks 175 00:15:06,876 --> 00:15:10,250 into something useful that changed the world. 176 00:15:11,626 --> 00:15:13,417 There is an instruction. 177 00:15:13,584 --> 00:15:18,834 Airplanes, for example, must not fly closer than 30 km to a thundercloud, 178 00:15:19,083 --> 00:15:22,417 strong electric fields are located in the atmosphere of a thundercloud 179 00:15:22,542 --> 00:15:24,834 and the plane can control lightning. 180 00:15:24,999 --> 00:15:29,334 Every plane gets one or two electric shocks in a year. 181 00:15:31,959 --> 00:15:37,667 The machine was able to fire 150 meters of artificial lightning, 182 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,334 but only for 100 microseconds. 183 00:15:42,667 --> 00:15:45,626 The next step would be to check the artificial lightning. 184 00:15:46,667 --> 00:15:50,999 But the machine used a lot of energy and was also very expensive. 185 00:15:56,125 --> 00:16:01,250 But now it became clear that the USA is also experimenting with the EMP 186 00:16:01,959 --> 00:16:05,667 and in the case of war, the Soviet Union would no longer have a technological advantage. 187 00:16:07,959 --> 00:16:11,000 In 1989, the Soviet Union collapsed 188 00:16:11,334 --> 00:16:14,209 and the money for Marx's machine simply ran out. 189 00:16:18,334 --> 00:16:20,999 What could have been the world's ultimate weapon, 190 00:16:21,125 --> 00:16:25,584 from then on, he stands silent and lonely in his corner of the forest. 191 00:16:32,667 --> 00:16:35,751 Another revolutionary electro-magnetic field generator 192 00:16:35,876 --> 00:16:39,876 stood at Wardenclyffe, Long Island, United States. 193 00:16:45,292 --> 00:16:49,125 In a beautiful area east of New York , hidden under the trees, something 194 00:16:49,626 --> 00:16:53,751 which is the aftermath of a grand plan to reshape life on Earth. 195 00:16:55,125 --> 00:16:59,167 The plan would have made Wardenclyffe the energy center of the entire planet. 196 00:17:01,500 --> 00:17:04,584 Would this incredible plan have even worked? 197 00:17:05,416 --> 00:17:08,584 And who was the mysterious, obsessed inventor behind the plan? 198 00:17:10,291 --> 00:17:12,626 Today, we take electricity for granted. 199 00:17:12,791 --> 00:17:17,584 But at the end of the 19th century it was news. It was a miracle. 200 00:17:17,709 --> 00:17:22,125 It was a panacea for almost everything 201 00:17:22,334 --> 00:17:24,666 and its potential was limitless. 202 00:17:29,792 --> 00:17:35,167 Now all that remains of Wardenclyffe is a demolished laboratory building. 203 00:17:36,667 --> 00:17:40,999 People come from all over the world to explore these dank corridors 204 00:17:41,125 --> 00:17:43,709 and look for clues about what happened here. 205 00:17:48,292 --> 00:17:50,792 In the early years of the 20th century 206 00:17:51,167 --> 00:17:53,918 rumors spread of mystical experiments, 207 00:17:54,209 --> 00:17:57,834 of strange flashing lights and a reclusive figure, 208 00:17:58,292 --> 00:18:01,876 who worked here and who was half genius and half mad. 209 00:18:03,375 --> 00:18:05,667 His name was Nikola Tesla. 210 00:18:09,709 --> 00:18:13,709 Neil Bagget works at the Tesla Research Center in Wardenclyffe. 211 00:18:14,959 --> 00:18:19,000 He believes that Tesla's ideas were capable of changing the world. 212 00:18:20,667 --> 00:18:25,375 Tesla was a unique person. He was very reclusive. 213 00:18:25,584 --> 00:18:29,626 He worked all the time. His obsession was invention. 214 00:18:29,918 --> 00:18:35,375 He wanted to help the world, to do things that would benefit the whole world. 215 00:18:38,209 --> 00:18:42,584 The scale of Tesla's visions becomes clear from his plans with Wardenclyffe. 216 00:18:43,834 --> 00:18:47,751 It required a technique that had never been seen before. 217 00:18:54,292 --> 00:18:57,250 We are standing at the foot of the Tesla Tower. 218 00:18:57,876 --> 00:19:02,292 57 meter high tower made of wooden beams 219 00:19:03,334 --> 00:19:07,292 and on top of it a large hemisphere of copper wires, 220 00:19:07,792 --> 00:19:11,250 which was actually a high voltage capacitor, 221 00:19:11,667 --> 00:19:15,083 which could charge millions of volts. 222 00:19:15,209 --> 00:19:19,209 The voltage was so high that it exceeded the capacity and threw sparks, 223 00:19:19,334 --> 00:19:21,375 sending out lightning bolts. 224 00:19:29,667 --> 00:19:33,250 This unique capacitor is Tesla's most famous invention 225 00:19:33,626 --> 00:19:35,876 and was used in dozens of experiments. 226 00:19:37,542 --> 00:19:40,876 It was supposed to trigger an electric current directly into the ground 227 00:19:41,125 --> 00:19:43,334 into a special underground chamber. 228 00:19:44,709 --> 00:19:49,334 From there, the electricity would have traveled through radial tunnels into the earth's crust. 229 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:59,999 He tried to develop the wireless transmission of electricity, 230 00:20:00,209 --> 00:20:03,626 because Tesla coils create and transmit radio waves 231 00:20:03,918 --> 00:20:06,626 or electromagnetic waves of any kind. 232 00:20:07,999 --> 00:20:12,959 He believed he could create within the earth's crust 233 00:20:13,125 --> 00:20:15,042 standing electric potential wave. 234 00:20:15,167 --> 00:20:19,083 A standing wave is like a wave with a rope attached to it - a jump rope. 235 00:20:19,584 --> 00:20:22,667 By moving it, you get a standing wave that does not move forward. 236 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:27,334 These voltage spikes and dips would spread all over the world. 237 00:20:27,834 --> 00:20:31,417 By connecting to them, you could take electricity 238 00:20:31,959 --> 00:20:38,042 or information, by modulating the wave you could send information. 239 00:20:39,042 --> 00:20:45,375 It is a new way of creating and sharing energy through the network, 240 00:20:45,584 --> 00:20:49,667 something that we have adopted, not directly from Tesla, 241 00:20:49,792 --> 00:20:54,167 but this is another thing that was needed to change the world 242 00:20:54,667 --> 00:20:56,667 and we did it. 243 00:20:58,999 --> 00:21:03,918 However , powerful forces were gathering against Tesla Wardenclyffe's plans . 244 00:21:05,834 --> 00:21:11,250 His decision to use alternating current instead of direct current in his machine 245 00:21:11,626 --> 00:21:16,375 brought him into conflict with another electrical celebrity - Thomas Edison. 246 00:21:18,751 --> 00:21:24,042 Edison had direct current and Tesla had alternating current 247 00:21:24,292 --> 00:21:28,792 and there was a rivalry between them, a real war between them 248 00:21:28,918 --> 00:21:33,250 and Edison was a better marketer than Tesla, 249 00:21:33,375 --> 00:21:37,667 who was very focused on science and its possibilities 250 00:21:37,792 --> 00:21:40,959 and who rather thought about the future 251 00:21:41,042 --> 00:21:44,751 and how to change the world, which we eventually did. 252 00:21:46,375 --> 00:21:52,292 However, alternating current is better than direct current for transmitting electricity 253 00:21:52,417 --> 00:21:57,834 and now that's what we're using, direct current is just in batteries, 254 00:21:57,959 --> 00:22:00,042 we do not use direct current for any other purpose . 255 00:22:00,209 --> 00:22:04,584 Alternating current is easier to produce in power plants, 256 00:22:04,709 --> 00:22:07,959 it is easier to transmit through wires 257 00:22:08,042 --> 00:22:11,542 and even Tesla started talking about it, 258 00:22:11,709 --> 00:22:14,667 which we are currently trying to develop and that is wireless electricity. 259 00:22:14,792 --> 00:22:16,751 Abandoned Buildings 260 00:22:16,876 --> 00:22:18,876 Energy demand 261 00:22:19,292 --> 00:22:21,542 Abandoned Buildings 262 00:22:22,500 --> 00:22:24,918 Energy demand 263 00:22:29,667 --> 00:22:34,042 In competition with Edison, Tesla's biggest enemy was himself. 264 00:22:35,292 --> 00:22:38,167 His mysterious experiments and obsessive behavior 265 00:22:38,417 --> 00:22:40,792 made it easy to portray him as a freak. 266 00:22:44,667 --> 00:22:46,792 Edison managed to blackmail him, 267 00:22:46,918 --> 00:22:50,542 he showed the dangers of alternating current, 268 00:22:50,667 --> 00:22:54,459 electrocuting elephants to make people think: 269 00:22:54,751 --> 00:22:58,292 "No, direct current is the right thing to do because it's safer and cleaner." 270 00:22:58,584 --> 00:23:02,125 Tesla fell into depression, he became ill 271 00:23:02,292 --> 00:23:05,542 and died a very poor man. 272 00:23:05,834 --> 00:23:09,167 As we sadly learned after his death , 273 00:23:09,375 --> 00:23:12,959 he was right, he was on the right track with AC, 274 00:23:13,042 --> 00:23:16,375 maybe he even invented the radio 275 00:23:16,500 --> 00:23:19,250 before Marconi even started working on it. 276 00:23:19,417 --> 00:23:24,292 So even though Tesla was right, he was not appreciated in his lifetime. 277 00:23:30,709 --> 00:23:34,834 Tesla's main backer - leading financier JP Morgan 278 00:23:35,083 --> 00:23:40,375 there was no other option but to end the Wardenclyffe project. 279 00:23:42,250 --> 00:23:44,999 Even the tower was demolished 280 00:23:45,334 --> 00:23:48,834 and only a large circle of foundation stones remained. 281 00:23:52,375 --> 00:23:55,918 Really disappointing thing about the Wardenclyffe Tower project 282 00:23:56,042 --> 00:24:01,292 was that it was discontinued allegedly due to lack of funds. 283 00:24:01,542 --> 00:24:05,167 Really? JP Morgan has no money? 284 00:24:05,334 --> 00:24:11,500 Or it happened because Tesla created free energy, 285 00:24:11,667 --> 00:24:16,125 that no one can profit from? We need to look into it carefully. 286 00:24:21,292 --> 00:24:25,167 Today, people work in dark research laboratories all over the world 287 00:24:25,334 --> 00:24:28,542 some dedicated supporters of Tesla's ideas , 288 00:24:29,125 --> 00:24:31,626 who want to realize his Wardenclyffe dream. 289 00:24:34,167 --> 00:24:38,500 But the inexhaustible energy potential also has its more sinister side. 290 00:24:39,876 --> 00:24:44,667 Tesla himself presented the idea of ​​creating a superweapon using energy 291 00:24:45,584 --> 00:24:48,375 and in the 1980s the US Air Force did. 292 00:24:52,125 --> 00:24:54,209 experiments in creating artificial lightning. 293 00:24:56,876 --> 00:25:01,834 In a distant corner of the forest, the Marx machine of the Soviets followed the same path. 294 00:25:05,959 --> 00:25:10,250 The world is yet to see if Tesla 's visions of the future of electricity will be fulfilled 295 00:25:10,417 --> 00:25:13,626 be it good or bad - will become a reality one day. 296 00:25:26,999 --> 00:25:32,000 At the beginning of the 20th century, conventional power plants spread throughout the world. 297 00:25:34,250 --> 00:25:37,999 In the Kelenföld district of Budapest, the capital of Hungary 298 00:25:38,292 --> 00:25:41,667 is one of the oldest and most beautiful power plants in the world. 299 00:25:42,542 --> 00:25:45,083 This is the Kelenföld power station. 300 00:25:49,083 --> 00:25:51,959 When it became operational in June 1914 , 301 00:25:52,334 --> 00:25:56,999 there was no rival in efficiency and power to Kelenföld in the whole world. 302 00:25:59,500 --> 00:26:03,042 Today, electricity generation is a common industrial process 303 00:26:03,334 --> 00:26:07,083 and the stations are constructed as efficient and cheap as possible. 304 00:26:08,792 --> 00:26:13,417 However, Kelenföld's constructors wanted to create an electric temple. 305 00:26:16,918 --> 00:26:22,000 Generating electricity is actually very simple. 306 00:26:23,292 --> 00:26:26,334 You take something incredibly simple, 307 00:26:26,459 --> 00:26:31,709 a turbine that spins in a coil around a magnet, and that's it, 308 00:26:31,876 --> 00:26:35,792 but in order to use it, you have to add regulators 309 00:26:35,959 --> 00:26:38,918 and other extras. For example, a transformer, 310 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,417 systems that would make the turbine rotate at a constant speed. 311 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,918 All these things had to be worked out 312 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,834 and this technology is very old. 313 00:26:49,959 --> 00:26:55,125 Now we do it the same way it was done back then, 314 00:26:55,250 --> 00:26:58,334 many things had to be thought of when creating these things 315 00:26:58,626 --> 00:27:02,417 and be ingenious in making alternating current useful. 316 00:27:13,250 --> 00:27:18,626 To produce electricity, Kelenföld needed steam to run turbines. 317 00:27:19,834 --> 00:27:22,751 There were stacks of coal in the huge furnace room 318 00:27:22,959 --> 00:27:26,667 and the nearby Danube 319 00:27:26,959 --> 00:27:29,417 hundreds of thousands of liters of water were delivered . 320 00:27:31,125 --> 00:27:34,751 Coal and water create steam 321 00:27:34,876 --> 00:27:37,125 and make the magnets inside the coil rotate, 322 00:27:37,250 --> 00:27:41,709 basically it is the same form of science and physics point of view 323 00:27:41,834 --> 00:27:45,751 and it shows that we haven't found a better way to generate electricity. 324 00:27:45,876 --> 00:27:51,209 Even with nuclear power, we still heat water 325 00:27:51,334 --> 00:27:53,792 and the turbines are exactly the same. 326 00:27:54,125 --> 00:27:57,876 Yes, electronics and transformers could be better, 327 00:27:57,999 --> 00:28:03,125 we lose less energy sending it through the masts, 328 00:28:03,250 --> 00:28:07,709 but if you go to the heart of this electricity generation, 329 00:28:08,250 --> 00:28:11,090 then the best I can say is that we do it exactly the same way. 330 00:28:16,292 --> 00:28:20,083 Kelenföld was built at a time when the Art Deco design style 331 00:28:20,209 --> 00:28:22,959 transformed utilitarian structures. 332 00:28:25,417 --> 00:28:30,042 Art Deco influences are immediately apparent in Kelenföld's unique control room . 333 00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:34,417 The room's curved walls and dramatic glass ceiling show 334 00:28:34,834 --> 00:28:39,167 how much effort went into turning the power plant into a work of art. 335 00:28:42,250 --> 00:28:47,000 Tibor Horvath is the director of the power plant that replaced Kelenföld. 336 00:28:48,542 --> 00:28:55,626 Kelenföld was always famous for the latest technology 337 00:28:55,918 --> 00:28:59,042 in terms of improvement and use. 338 00:28:59,167 --> 00:29:04,417 The control room was very important for regulating the power plant 339 00:29:04,542 --> 00:29:10,250 and for managing electrical equipment. 340 00:29:10,375 --> 00:29:14,292 Technology such as transformers and switches, 341 00:29:14,417 --> 00:29:17,334 was ranked first in Europe in terms of its design . 342 00:29:17,667 --> 00:29:20,999 For the next 20 years , Kelenföld was very famous. 343 00:29:24,459 --> 00:29:28,709 It must be taken as a projection of all futures 344 00:29:28,959 --> 00:29:33,125 and therefore may have design elements used for it 345 00:29:33,250 --> 00:29:37,918 you try to attract people on board, you try to show your country and people, 346 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:42,959 that you are progressive, that you are entering a new era 347 00:29:43,042 --> 00:29:46,375 so why not use new design elements for this. 348 00:29:50,250 --> 00:29:53,709 The new power plant soon became an exhibit in Hungary 349 00:29:54,292 --> 00:29:57,918 and its layout and design were copied throughout Europe. 350 00:29:59,542 --> 00:30:05,083 I think it's nice that they tried to use the Art Deco style, 351 00:30:05,250 --> 00:30:09,709 make it exquisite and it is still beautiful. 352 00:30:09,834 --> 00:30:13,959 It's fantastic. I don't know how practical it was, 353 00:30:14,417 --> 00:30:17,125 were there any problems with the sound and other things like that. 354 00:30:17,751 --> 00:30:23,626 I don't see why design and functionality can't go hand in hand. 355 00:30:29,167 --> 00:30:33,918 Although I MS broke out only two months after Kelenföld started working, 356 00:30:34,292 --> 00:30:36,709 the brand new station escaped unscathed. 357 00:30:38,125 --> 00:30:42,167 20 years later, the station became the target of Allied bombing raids. 358 00:30:43,709 --> 00:30:46,083 Its design now got a new purpose. 359 00:30:46,334 --> 00:30:50,792 Concrete one- and two-man shelters were built throughout the station , 360 00:30:51,083 --> 00:30:53,125 including a decorated control room. 361 00:30:56,167 --> 00:30:59,918 Bunkers were built during World War II. 362 00:31:00,083 --> 00:31:04,876 Fortunately, the control room and bunker were not needed 363 00:31:05,167 --> 00:31:08,834 no protection 364 00:31:09,250 --> 00:31:13,709 as only one bomb fell and that too outside the station. 365 00:31:14,459 --> 00:31:21,209 The bombs did not damage the buildings and the roof. 366 00:31:24,459 --> 00:31:31,500 Bomb shelters in the middle of the factory or in production buildings 367 00:31:31,918 --> 00:31:35,083 make me wonder a lot. 368 00:31:36,042 --> 00:31:40,834 Of course, it makes sense to make shelters deep underground, 369 00:31:40,999 --> 00:31:44,459 but the idea of ​​putting individual shields right in the middle of the target 370 00:31:44,584 --> 00:31:46,751 seems quite strange. 371 00:31:47,083 --> 00:31:50,959 And this completely contradicts all research, 372 00:31:51,042 --> 00:31:54,250 which was made in the 20s and 30s by German engineers, 373 00:31:55,209 --> 00:31:58,000 who studied possible future war 374 00:31:58,125 --> 00:32:02,751 and designed factories to minimize damage 375 00:32:03,417 --> 00:32:08,959 and repair and firefighting would be easy, 376 00:32:09,209 --> 00:32:11,626 should an airstrike take place, 377 00:32:14,667 --> 00:32:19,334 After the war, Kelenföld remained the center of Hungarian energy supply, 378 00:32:19,667 --> 00:32:25,083 until it stopped working in 2005 after 91 years of operation . 379 00:32:27,209 --> 00:32:30,417 Even after years of decay and neglect 380 00:32:30,626 --> 00:32:33,626 his glory is still admired throughout the world . 381 00:32:37,500 --> 00:32:39,751 Abandoned Buildings 382 00:32:39,876 --> 00:32:41,918 Energy demand 383 00:32:42,250 --> 00:32:44,459 Abandoned Buildings 384 00:32:45,250 --> 00:32:47,709 Energy demand 385 00:32:53,500 --> 00:32:57,542 It stands abandoned by the river Okaa in eastern Russia 386 00:32:57,959 --> 00:33:00,459 revolutionary high voltage mast. 387 00:33:01,876 --> 00:33:04,417 This amazing tower is 120 years old 388 00:33:04,584 --> 00:33:07,083 the result of the developed construction technique, 389 00:33:07,500 --> 00:33:10,959 which can be seen today in the world's largest facilities. 390 00:33:15,209 --> 00:33:18,500 It is a unique combination of art and architecture. 391 00:33:25,500 --> 00:33:27,417 The Sukhov Tower is very striking. 392 00:33:27,584 --> 00:33:30,792 You look at it and you don't know why, 393 00:33:30,918 --> 00:33:33,209 but you feel that there is something different about it. 394 00:33:36,792 --> 00:33:40,292 Looking at this thing is a bit mesmerizing 395 00:33:40,417 --> 00:33:46,334 it seems to you that all this steel is curved, 396 00:33:46,626 --> 00:33:50,042 but you have to remember that every piece there is straight. 397 00:33:51,292 --> 00:33:56,375 It is a work of art and engineering, it is mathematics. 398 00:34:02,292 --> 00:34:07,209 Tatjana Vinogradova has studied its constructor all her life 399 00:34:08,375 --> 00:34:11,918 a man who pushed the boundaries of mathematics and technology. 400 00:34:13,876 --> 00:34:16,958 That man was Vladimir Grigorevich Sukhov. 401 00:34:20,125 --> 00:34:26,208 You know, the most interesting thing is... I myself think a lot about Sukhov. 402 00:34:26,876 --> 00:34:31,125 Maybe it's naive, but every person has two hemispheres. 403 00:34:31,542 --> 00:34:33,458 One is responsible for figurative thinking, 404 00:34:33,751 --> 00:34:36,125 the other is for math and analytics. 405 00:34:36,250 --> 00:34:40,500 Some have more of one hemisphere, some the other. 406 00:34:40,876 --> 00:34:43,708 Sukhov had both hemispheres working brilliantly . 407 00:34:45,417 --> 00:34:48,876 This mast worked. It was not built simply as a memorial 408 00:34:49,250 --> 00:34:52,958 to the hyperboloid mast. He had his own function 409 00:34:53,333 --> 00:34:56,083 and that function was to support power lines. 410 00:34:56,583 --> 00:35:01,584 From where we stand now, the power line went to the other side. 411 00:35:02,250 --> 00:35:05,334 In order for the electrical wires to go to the other side, 412 00:35:05,626 --> 00:35:08,999 it was necessary to install a whole number of masts 413 00:35:09,334 --> 00:35:11,209 there was not one but eight masts. 414 00:35:14,751 --> 00:35:17,709 In my opinion, Sukhov's idea was very avant-garde, 415 00:35:17,876 --> 00:35:21,250 as masts must be practical 416 00:35:21,500 --> 00:35:27,000 we need a large height with as little steel consumption as possible. 417 00:35:27,125 --> 00:35:30,292 But in my opinion, Sukhov penetrated deeper into the problem. 418 00:35:30,459 --> 00:35:33,999 He thought how to make it beautiful 419 00:35:34,083 --> 00:35:36,459 and mathematically as accurate as possible 420 00:35:36,584 --> 00:35:40,834 and he came up with this beautiful and unusual structure. 421 00:35:45,417 --> 00:35:47,792 Sukhov Tower was one of eight, 422 00:35:47,959 --> 00:35:51,709 which was built in 1927 to carry electric wires across the Okaa River 423 00:35:51,959 --> 00:35:55,959 to important industrial enterprises in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. 424 00:35:58,125 --> 00:36:02,292 It was one of two 130-meter masts standing on the north bank. 425 00:36:04,667 --> 00:36:08,999 But did Sukhov's revolutionary design cope with the weight of the wires 426 00:36:09,125 --> 00:36:12,209 and by the influence of the winds blowing across the open country? 427 00:36:15,918 --> 00:36:18,459 He had to do so many calculations, 428 00:36:19,375 --> 00:36:22,542 to make sure this thing is feasible 429 00:36:22,709 --> 00:36:27,292 and he kept it simple, elegant and beautiful design. 430 00:36:27,792 --> 00:36:32,292 It is almost transparent. All beams are very thin, 431 00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:35,751 so one can imagine the wind passing through it, 432 00:36:35,876 --> 00:36:38,792 without causing the slightest trouble, 433 00:36:38,918 --> 00:36:44,125 so it's a very efficient and possibly complex design. 434 00:36:46,709 --> 00:36:51,167 Any engineer who designs a mast hundreds of meters high, 435 00:36:51,292 --> 00:36:53,375 must consider the effect of wind. 436 00:36:53,500 --> 00:36:58,250 The wind can be very strong even if you don't feel it on the ground. 437 00:36:58,459 --> 00:37:03,584 There are forces acting on the pole above that try to overturn it. 438 00:37:04,125 --> 00:37:08,417 Looking at the Eiffel Tower, you can say, 439 00:37:08,751 --> 00:37:12,042 that it is a stout structure, it has a wide base, 440 00:37:12,209 --> 00:37:15,959 it is narrower at the top and looks quite solid. 441 00:37:16,542 --> 00:37:20,375 The Sukhov Tower is not like that, it is much more graceful. 442 00:37:20,584 --> 00:37:25,751 In a way, he put his mathematical thinking into practice 443 00:37:25,959 --> 00:37:30,751 and created masts that are graceful but still get the job done. 444 00:37:33,959 --> 00:37:38,959 Sukhov even developed a new way of constructing his masts. 445 00:37:39,250 --> 00:37:42,000 The way Sukhov's masts were built was quite clever. 446 00:37:42,125 --> 00:37:47,834 The various pieces were placed at the foot of the pole and then raised. 447 00:37:48,042 --> 00:37:50,626 They worked in the same direction, 448 00:37:50,751 --> 00:37:55,626 so they had to lift up, not up and aside, 449 00:37:55,751 --> 00:37:59,542 so it made the operation a little easier. 450 00:38:02,584 --> 00:38:05,751 Sukhov became a world leader in 1896, 451 00:38:06,083 --> 00:38:11,042 when he constructed a water tower with a light but very strong mesh structure, 452 00:38:11,167 --> 00:38:13,500 known as a hyperboloid construction, 453 00:38:15,709 --> 00:38:19,500 in which straight beams mounted on a round base are used. 454 00:38:20,959 --> 00:38:25,626 Each beam was tilted to the side and inward at a specific angle 455 00:38:26,083 --> 00:38:28,542 and thus a gradually tapering tower was obtained. 456 00:38:31,167 --> 00:38:34,209 It has an arched profile, it is arched in shape. 457 00:38:34,334 --> 00:38:40,125 However, its details are long and straight. 458 00:38:40,959 --> 00:38:44,792 How do you calculate how strong it will be, 459 00:38:44,918 --> 00:38:47,667 how resistant it is to wind and stuff like that. 460 00:38:47,792 --> 00:38:52,334 It's almost incomprehensible how he came up with it. 461 00:38:52,500 --> 00:38:55,083 It is unlike anything that has come before. 462 00:38:55,667 --> 00:38:58,209 Before him, calculations of these structures did not exist. 463 00:38:58,751 --> 00:39:04,500 So he came up with the calculations himself 464 00:39:04,626 --> 00:39:09,417 and his intuition helped him guess how the structure would hold itself up. 465 00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:16,584 Although Suhov also used his system for light buildings, 466 00:39:16,792 --> 00:39:19,751 it was his mast design that immediately caught the eye. 467 00:39:21,250 --> 00:39:24,417 Over the next twenty years , he performed almost two hundred suits. 468 00:39:28,042 --> 00:39:33,751 He further planned to construct a 335-meter radio mast in Moscow, 469 00:39:35,042 --> 00:39:37,500 but Russia was in the grip of revolution, 470 00:39:38,083 --> 00:39:43,000 there was not enough steel and he had to limit himself to only 150 meters. 471 00:39:45,584 --> 00:39:49,292 Shabolovka mast completed in 1922 472 00:39:49,542 --> 00:39:53,167 was the first major construction project of the new Soviet Union 473 00:39:53,834 --> 00:39:57,626 and it confirmed Sukhov's reputation as a brilliant structural engineer, 474 00:39:58,459 --> 00:40:01,250 but would his huge mast have worked? 475 00:40:07,542 --> 00:40:12,375 Next to Sukhov's mast, the Eiffel Tower would have been tiny, 476 00:40:12,792 --> 00:40:17,209 it would have been the length of three American football fields. 477 00:40:17,500 --> 00:40:19,459 Imagine that for yourself. 478 00:40:19,876 --> 00:40:23,792 I believe that Suhov would have completed a 300 m high mast, 479 00:40:23,959 --> 00:40:27,500 because its structure was so incredibly elegant and light 480 00:40:27,792 --> 00:40:33,876 and so perfectly oriented with all its various steel beams, 481 00:40:33,999 --> 00:40:37,834 which create the necessary stability so that he would have done it. 482 00:40:43,375 --> 00:40:45,792 Sukhov did not build more towers, 483 00:40:45,999 --> 00:40:50,751 but his genius inspired other engineers to copy his design. 484 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:56,250 Hearst Tower in New York and Kings Cross Station in London 485 00:40:56,417 --> 00:40:59,209 there are only two world-famous buildings that were inspired 486 00:40:59,334 --> 00:41:02,125 of his diagrid hyperboloid. 487 00:41:04,626 --> 00:41:07,959 Sukhov's name may be unknown to many people today, 488 00:41:08,250 --> 00:41:10,459 but his legacy lives on. 489 00:41:14,209 --> 00:41:19,918 In the late 19th century, electricity was a mystical and almost magical force. 490 00:41:21,292 --> 00:41:24,292 However, it became indispensable in less than a century 491 00:41:24,417 --> 00:41:26,999 to a large part of the world's population. 492 00:41:29,500 --> 00:41:32,209 Relics of the early years of electrical inventions 493 00:41:32,375 --> 00:41:35,584 and the way in which it became important in both war and peace, 494 00:41:35,792 --> 00:41:38,626 is a reminder to us of how far we have come. 495 00:41:40,709 --> 00:41:42,999 Having stood abandoned for decades, 496 00:41:43,083 --> 00:41:46,417 the location of Tesla Wardenclyffe has been saved from oblivion. 497 00:41:47,626 --> 00:41:51,667 It is planned to preserve the remnants of his revolutionary energy system 498 00:41:52,042 --> 00:41:56,542 and are encouraged to study and understand his life and work. 499 00:42:01,999 --> 00:42:05,083 He achieved so much during his life that it's a pity, 500 00:42:05,209 --> 00:42:07,999 that it is not there as a kind of memorial 501 00:42:08,083 --> 00:42:12,125 about how brilliant he really was. 502 00:42:12,375 --> 00:42:15,334 It's a real shame that it was torn to pieces. 503 00:42:17,792 --> 00:42:22,834 Duga Rähn's location in the radioactive contamination zone of Chernobyl 504 00:42:23,042 --> 00:42:25,792 helped keep him going for the last 30 years. 505 00:42:27,125 --> 00:42:31,250 The huge steel radar system has become a lasting monument. 506 00:42:31,375 --> 00:42:33,584 To the paranoia of the Cold War years. 507 00:42:36,918 --> 00:42:40,334 Today, Rähn looks as if it has been frozen in time. 508 00:42:40,459 --> 00:42:43,751 It's dead, it's post-apocalyptic. 509 00:42:44,292 --> 00:42:49,626 It was something that was so strategic and important, 510 00:42:49,876 --> 00:42:52,918 it has a kind of scary aura about it 511 00:42:53,167 --> 00:42:57,792 it is something that could have caused World War III. 512 00:43:00,667 --> 00:43:02,918 Similarly, like Tesla and Sukhov, 513 00:43:03,125 --> 00:43:06,375 modern engineers and scientists are also expanding its boundaries, 514 00:43:06,500 --> 00:43:10,209 what can be achieved with electricity and how it can be delivered. 515 00:43:12,626 --> 00:43:18,125 Inevitably, these new discoveries also become modern technology 516 00:43:18,459 --> 00:43:21,959 in many awe -inspiring abandoned structures.