DODIK: TESLA PROVED THAT A SERBIAN GENIUS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

BANJA LUKA, JULY 10 /SRNA/ - Nikola Tesla is the embodiment and symbol of everything best in the Serbian people – genius, perseverance, faith in progress and devotion to one’s roots, President Milorad Dodik stated.

In a piece he wrote for SRNA on the occasion of the 170th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth, Dodik said that Nikola Tesla is part of an unbroken thread connecting Emperor Dušan and Prince Lazar, Vuk Karadžić and Dositej Obradović, Mihajlo Pupin and Milutin Milanković with all the heroes who, after Tesla, continued to build and defend the Serbian name.

SRNA publishes President Dodik's article in full:

Today, we mark 170 years since the birth of Nikola Tesla, a genius whose name has become synonymous with the human mind, with light and with the energy that drives the modern world. Today, as we bow before his image, we do so with deep reverence and pride, because Nikola Tesla was not only a scientist; he was also a proud Orthodox Serb from Smiljan, from Lika, from a Serbian hearth that gave many great figures to our people.

Tesla was born into a Serbian family and raised in the spirit of Orthodoxy, with his mother Đuka, who remembered epic poems, and his father Milutin, a priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Tesla never concealed his Serbian identity. On the contrary, he emphasised his Serbian heritage and carried it as his greatest honour. When he arrived in Belgrade in June 1892, Tesla was awarded the Order of Saint Sava, Second Class.

At the time, Tesla visited the National Museum and the Great School, where he spoke about his work to students and professors and told them: "As you can see and hear, I have remained a Serb across the ocean as well, where I pursue my research. You should do the same and, through your knowledge and work, raise the glory of the Serbian people in the world."

After Tesla’s death, his legacy was brought to Belgrade based on a decision by the US judicial authorities, after his cousin Sava Kosanović was declared Tesla’s sole heir. In accordance with Nikola Tesla’s wishes, Kosanović transferred Tesla’s documents and personal belongings to Belgrade in 1951.

When he departed this world, Nikola Tesla was laid to rest to the sound of the song "Tamo daleko" /"Far Away, Over There"/, a song that inspired Serbian heroes through days of suffering and freedom. This was no coincidence. It is a message that endures.

His achievements are immeasurable: alternating current, wireless transmission of energy, the Tesla coil, the foundations of modern electrical engineering, and visions that were ahead of his time.

Without Tesla, the modern world would be dark and silent. He illuminated the planet while remaining faithful to his roots. That is why he is celebrated around the world today, but, unfortunately, precisely for that reason, some are trying to claim him as their own in an effort to diminish the significance of the Serbian people as a whole by rewriting history.

Croatia, which has claimed him in every possible way, ignores the fact that Tesla clearly and openly spoke about who he was and where he came from. This is not only a historical falsehood, but a classic example of attempts to reshape the identity of a great figure to diminish the Serbian contribution to world civilisation.

Similar is happening with other symbols of our people. By that logic, Serbia could put Ban Jelačić, who was born in Novi Sad, on its dinar. We are witnessing people in Sarajevo waving the Christian flag of Serbian King Tvrtko, from which the crosses have been removed - as if it were possible to erase a people’s faith and origins, and those of its king, crowned in Mileševa, simply by removing the crosses.

Republika Srpska, as a collective expression of the Serbian identity in this region, faces the same challenges as Tesla’s legacy, that of one of the greatest minds humanity has ever had.

Despite our clear Serbian identity and despite our thousand-year presence in these lands, attempts are being made to rename us, to take away our history, and to deny us the right to our identity, language, faith and culture.

The attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church, our symbols and our heroes - all of this is part of the same pattern: an assault on the pride and dignity of a people that refuses to submit.

But Tesla teaches us something deeper. He is the embodiment and symbol of everything best in the Serbian people — genius, perseverance, faith in progress and devotion to one’s roots. He is part of an unbroken thread that connects Emperor Dušan and Prince Lazar, Vuk Karadžić and Dositej Obradović, Mihajlo Pupin and Milutin Milanković with all the heroes who, after Tesla, continued to build and defend the Serbian name.

Serbian culture, our heritage, and the life and work of Nikola Tesla form an inseparable whole. Despite all the storms, wars, pressures and attempts to divide us and diminish our importance, we Serbs remain steadfast and unbreakable. With the faith and strength given to us by our history, and with pride in our great figures, we continue forward.

Those who cannot accept this do so out of a sense of inferiority: they cannot accept the fact that a numerically small nation, yet a great one in terms of its achievements, has for centuries produced individuals and collective accomplishments that place it among the best in the world — in science, culture, sport and heroism.

Tesla proved that a Serbian genius can change the world. Republika Srpska is proof that the same people can endure and develop despite everything. And it will continue to do so. Because our history is not only the past - it is a guarantee of the future.