Long Island Laboratory Of Nikola Tesla To Be Restored And Turned Into Museum

SHOREHAM, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The Long Island laboratory of the "father of radio" will be restored as a museum and science center.

Nikola Tesla used his Wardenclyffe lab during the early part of the 20th century and was a rival of New Jersey's Thomas Edison.

WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs reports

"The United States Supreme Court declared him the father of radio. He is the person who had the formative patents for radio as we know it today with a transmitter and receiver," Tesla Science Center president Jane Alcorn told WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs.

An online fundraising campaign brought in more than $1 million in just six weeks to help preserve the laboratory where Tesla worked on his inventions.

EXTRA: Read More About The Tesla Science Center And Fundraising Effort

Online fundraising site Indiegogo.com said it was the fastest fundraising campaign in the website's history.

The state had previously awarded the science center an $850,000 grant to help purchase the laboratory property.

"He is also the person who developed the transmission system for alternating current, which is the way we electrify our homes today throughout the world. He invented the bladeless turbine, he invented the Tesla coil, of course named after him," Alcorn told Xirinachs. "What better place to have a science museum and learning center than in the laboratory of a former scientist."

One invention Tesla was never able to realize was his dream for free electricity for everyone.

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