Talk:Nikola Tesla/Nationality and ethnicity/Archive 2

if Nikola Tesla is Croatian. Even though historically Croats are "Catholic Serbs".

Then the first Christian Roman Emperor "Constantine" who recognized "Christianity" is Serbian. The same Constantine that founded the city of "Constantinople" which is now called "Istanbul". Why? Because today the place he is from is called "Serbia". The same argument can be made to Catholic Serbs who you call "Croats".

Tesla was Orthodox, therefore making him serb. And for the record...

Croatia is a fiction. Coats don't even call themselves "Croatian". They call themselves "Hrvat" or "Hrvati". The pronounciation is closer to "Harvard" like the university or Harvardi like the cheese.

Croats need to stop cutting the cheese.

Tesla quote "proud of Croatian homeland"
This quote has been moved around, added, removed and added again: "I am proud of my heritage, but I am also proud of my Croatian homeland"... I have searched for the source of Tesla saying this and come up empty. I'm removing it once again. Binksternet (talk) 21:11, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Cited scholarly sources. This is the situation:
 * Here in Croatia people often quote Tesla's words, “I am proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland.” Those same words were sued by Vladko Maček in his message of congratulation, which Tesla answered with the same words. To wit, in 1936 the President of HSS (Croatian Peasant Party), Vladko Maček, sent Tesla a congratulatory telegram (some sources say that it was on the occasion of his birthday, others that it was prompted by one of Tesla's discoveries), in which he addressed Tesla as “a son of Serbian stock and of the Croatian homeland.” In his return telegram Tesla thanked him warmly and answered that he was equally proud of his Serbian stock and Croatian homeland. (from hrvatska.hr)

J. D. Redding 21:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Excellent! I've tweaked the reference wording for neutral point of view. Thanks for solidifying the cite. Binksternet (talk) 04:26, 12 March 2008 (UTC)


 * It is imperative to clarify what Tesla really viewed as his homeland, and one brief, witty and courteous telegram is hardly a relevant reference, since Tesla himself elaborated it more than once, both in his articles and public speeches. In his Tribute to King Alexander addressed to the Editor of New York Times, he makes it clear that he is a Yugoslavian patriot, and that he considers both Croatia and Croats but a part of the same Yugoslav nation. More than that, he was a firm supporter of Yugoslav Chetniks and young King Peter II at the start of WWII, and was himself buried (i.e.the song was performed as his last wish at his memorial) with the sounds of Tamo Daleko song, which is a WWI Serbian patriotic song which clearly defines Serbia as the homeland.


 * It is more than clear that his unreasonably often quoted telegram was not a statement or a declaration of any kind, but a courteous reply to the administrator of Croatian province of Yugoslavia, which at the time was believed to belong to both Serbs and Croats, and not any Croatia in the sense of a state of Croatian people, or an independent nation. 77.46.228.11 (talk) 09:53, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Only because of few laughs I will answer this confirmed puppet. He is never saying that telegram is Croato-Serbian compromise for this article. Reason of this compromise is very simple:We are having internet source ! If we have writen in article that when he has been asked by American border control in 1884 which is his country of origin answer has been Croatia we will have never ending Croato-Serbian edit wars because there is no internet source (but statement is true) !
 * Explanation:In 1884 Croatia has Kingdom in Union with Hungary which has been in union with Austria (This state is known with name Austro-Hungary). Croatian Krajina where Tesla is born has been restored to Croatia in 1881.--Rjecina (talk) 12:46, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Nevertheless, the mentioned telegram is no proof that Tesla was in any way a sort of "Croatian patriot", since it is obvious that he was a firm supporter of integral Yugoslavism and King Aleksander, that he didn't even consider Croats and Croatia a nation, but only a tribe. And stop bullying me and deleting my contributions, and accusing me of being someone's "puppet". I have no idea what you are talking about, and if this is the way you treat all users logged in from Serbia's IP pools, your behavior will be reported. In fact, it already is. Marechiel (talk) 19:46, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Nicola Tesla Serbian Inventor?
there should be an edit where it is saying hes a serbian inventor since most of the article contradicts the serbian part, since hes croatian:

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Тесла) (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a Serbian inventor, physicist, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer. Born in Smiljan, Croatian Krajina, Military Frontier, he was an ethnic Serb subject of the Austrian Empire and later became an American citizen.

any 1 who knows how to change, plz do

(i meen if i die and it turns out some one in my fam. tree was spanish or somethin, and i made a famous invention, woulnt the spanish then try to claim me sayin im a spanish person too ?)

else claim tesla for africa, thats where human life is said to have originated from

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Mitsuruki (talk • contribs) 19:47, 6 December 2007 (UTC)


 * I do not understand what you are trying to say. He was an ethnic Serb (not an ethnic Croat) born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in what is now known as Croatia.  Keep in mind that Croatia, as we know it today, did not exist at that time: it was the Croatian Krajina Military Frontier.  In an empire, ethnicities are retained.  Ethnicities are defined by common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioural or biological traits.  Genealogically we are all Afrikan, but we are not all ethnically Afrikan. -- Bossi  ( talk • gallery • contrib ) 22:44, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

First of all excuse me for my English! But: I don't understand why you consider Tesla as a Serbian inventor. Well, Tesla was born and bring up in Croatia and is famous his phrase "I'm proud of Serbian origins and of Croatian homeland", therefore it's clear that he considered Croatia as his homeland. At the contrary I ask you: who are the Americans? In your logic almost anybody is American because all are Englishmen, Italian, Frenchmen, Germans, Polishes, etc. The question of Austro-Hungarian Empire is also stupid in my opinion. First of all because the same Tesla said "I'm proud of [..] Croatian homeland" so it's stupid make undo over this. Secondary for example Dante Alighieri is considered on of the biggest Italian author of XIII century, but Italy as unique state is just from XIX century. Now an other example. Mike Bongiorno is one of the most famous Italian showman of television. He was born in New York but his parents was Italian and he feel to be Italian. He always says "My homeland is Italy, in particular Sicily". So if Tesla was proud of his homeland Croatia, why we must delete his will?! Jovan Dučić from Montenegro consider that "Tesla" is an Montenegrin-origin surname so we be able to consider Tesla as a Montenegrin Inventor. Well... with this logic can excavate and excavate in the past of Tesla's family and see how he is an African inventor. The Croatians were always victim of a barbaric serbianization! Lupo90100 —Preceding comment was added at 13:48, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * What about the Serbian origins you mention Tesla was also proud of? :) Tesla was a Serb by ethnicity who was born in Croatia (well, Austrian Empire actually). Being a Serb is what makes him a Serbian scientist. Being an Italian by ethnicity is what makes Dante an Italian writer. (It has nothing to do with the country borders, just like you explained it yourself with Mike Bongiorno.) Simple, isn't it? --George D. Božović (talk) 18:57, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

How can yo say that Tesla was Serbian by ethinicity if Tesla said that his homeland was Croatia?! (and I repeat that was Croatia and not Austrian Empire, Tesla's words). He was born and bring up in Croatia, in Croatian schools and at last but not least his mother was Croatian. Here we speak only about his father side but never about his mother side. As a mattar of fact his mother was a inventor with very good memory, abilities which Tesla inherited by the mom, as the same Tesla said many times. After the marriage with Tesla's father, she converted herself in orthodox, but the religion can't be synonym of his nationality. About Mike Bongiorno I want to say that he is Italian because he feel himself as Italian. At the contrary all the world would consider him American. For Tesla is the same with the difference that Tesla was also born in Croatia. So Tesla was born in Croatia and felt Croatia as his homeland. In addition his mother was Croatian. So many things versus the idea that he was a Serbian.Lupo90100 —Preceding comment was added at 19:24, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * No, both of his parents were Serbs. His mother, Đuka Mandić, was daughter of a Serb Orthodox priest -- she did not convert to Orthodoxy after her wedding with Milutin Tesla. Mike Bongiorno truly is Italian if he feels and declares himself so, and thus Tesla was a Serb too, because he also felt so. It seems to me that you make no difference between ethnicity and nationality. You see, nationality (in BCS državljanstvo, not nacionalnost) means belonging to a country, a nation. Tesla's nationality was Austrian because he was born in the Austrian Empire, and later also American ("USA-ian") -- he could not have been born in Croatia because Croatia as a country didn't exist at that time, no matter of his own words. On the other hand, ethnicity (now this is nacionalnost or narodnost, etnička pripadnost in BCS) means belonging to an ethnic group. Tesla was an ethnic Serb. He had Serbian ancestry and he felt and declared himself so... And there you are. Tesla was born in the present-day Croatia, but he was an ethnic Serb. --George D. Božović (talk) 20:29, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure that both parents were Serbs?! In "Nikola Tesla, covjek koji je izumio 20. vijek" I think I read something about his Croatian mother. About Austrian Empire / Croatia is famouse Tesla's phrase "I'm proud of my Serbian origins and of my Croatian homeland". This is the exact phrase said by Tesla wich was also repeted at the commemoration of 150 years from Tesla's death organized by both country: Serbia and Croatia! (So already at the time Tesla was conscious of an idea of Croatia). An other his phrase was always "I'm prooud of my Croatian birth and Serbian people" because his mother was Croatian. I'm quite sure of this. When I'll have the opportunity to read again the book, I'll confimr or no this information. He told about "serbian people" because at the time the descendence was adopted by father-side. At the end you don't replace me about idea of "americans". For you who are the Americans? If we must see their parents and granparents almost nobody would be American, but Englishmen, Franchmen, Germans, Italians, etc. also for etnicity. For example the actress Gabriela Spanic is Venezuelan actress even if his father is Croatian. And this because she born in Venezuela. Dante Alighieri is Italian, even if at his time Italy didin't exist. So also Croatia. In Austrian Empire was a reality the concept of Croatia. At last Croatia enter in Austrian Empire because asked protection to the Austria from turkish invasion. At contary Mike Bongiorno who feel as his homeland Italy, is considered Italian, even if we be able to consider him American (as a mattar of fact exist many Americans that feel themeselves so but that have foreign parents).

Why Tesla after became USA-ian?! Why he can become USA-ian and not Croatian? Being he born and live in Croatia, he adopted Croatian culture. For me it's simple. I can't undestand why he become USA-ian and why he not become Croatian (for being born in it). For me Tesla was Croatian or jugoslavian and not only Serbian.

Sorry my English.Lupo90100 —Preceding comment was added at 21:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)


 * There is no problem with your English, but his mother was most certainly not Croatian -- in fact, herself a daughter of a Serbian Orthodox priest. I've heard this myth of him being half ethnically Croatian a few times now, but his has absolutely no basis in reality.    —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.234.21.66 (talk) 19:23, 5 May 2008 (UTC)


 * His father was a serbian orthodox priest. And you said yourself "Nikola Tesla, covjek koji je izumio 20. vijek" - Vijek, Serbian word, Stoljece, Croatian word... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.239.66.55 (talk) 14:11, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

it's a SHAME that a croat is to be listed in here as a serb. shamefull. he was a croat, born in croatia, in a part of the country called Lika, his mother was a native in a small village in Lika. also, the term 'croatian krajina' never egzisted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.29.140.115 (talk) 15:20, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Is this why the Croatian army chose to partially demolish the village, cleanse the inhabitants (including his relatives), and vandalise his house during the war? Because they were proud of him?  Interestingly, Croatia never wanted to claim him before until they realised it would be nice to have him as a Croat.  Unfortunately, he isn't, and to make the argument considerably more moot, Croatia was not a country at the time: therefore, ethnically he obviously wasn't Croatian (or are Croatians suddenly members of the Serbian Orthodox Church?), but also he couldn't have been a Croatian national either.  Please stop the nonsense.

Ethnic origins dispute
A section has been removed by user Binksternet, without bringing the problem up on the talk page. Please stick to procedure, thank you. Also, see reference provided. --Danielsavoiu (talk) 15:31, 21 March 2008 (UTC)


 * On March 11, I removed the Telegramme quote because it was unreferenced. I said so in the edit summary, and I brought it up on the Talk page. What part of procedure didn't I follow? At any rate, now that the Telegramme quote is referenced, I have no problem with its presence in the article. Binksternet (talk) 16:19, 21 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Ah, I think you mean this diff which is a section deletion made on March 8 by User:72.144.183.34 directly after a minor edit of mine. Binksternet (talk) 16:34, 21 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, I must apologise. I must have mis-clicked the diff. Cheers, Danielsavoiu (talk) 19:10, 25 March 2008 (UTC)


 * No sweat. :-) Binksternet (talk) 22:09, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Serbian American - What problem do Croats have with that?
Serbian Americans are American citizens of Serbian ethnic origin. Tesla wasn't a Serbian inventor, physicist etc. simply because he didn't live and work in Serbia. He lived and worked in the USA, which make him American. More specifically, Serbian American, since he was active member of Serbian American ethnic community. I simply don't see any reason why is this fact being deleted from the introduction, most notably from Croatian participants? Jealousy that outside Croatian national borders he isn't recognized as "Croatian"? We Serbs from Serbia and all around the world take a great pride in our kinsman Tesla, and see no reason that this fact shouldn't be mentioned whenever possible. Tesla wasn't just an American of Serbian ethnic origin, but an immigrant who always cherished his ethnic roots, an active member of Serbian American community, and in constant contact with his people and his state in Europe. He wrote and spoke in Serbian, and at the memorial after he died, he was paid his last homage as Serbian American and with intonation of Serbian patriotic songs. Marechiel (talk) 10:43, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Here's what problem I have with that: categorization. If Tesla belongs to Category:Serbian-Americans, e.g. Monica Seles would then belong to Category:Hungarian-Americans. And, apparently, she does. (I don't say it makes sense, but at least it's consistent.) But here's the rub: if Monica Seles doesn't belong to Category:Hungarian tennis players - and she doesn't - then Tesla doesn't belong to Category:Serbian inventors. In the "fooian fooers" hierarchy of categories, "fooian" invariably refers to nationality, not ethnicity. So we have this situation in which Wikipedia categorization rules are blatantly broken. If I went now and deleted Category:Serbian inventors from the article, it would get reverted in a second, never mind the appeals to MoS. Why? You said it best: because "great pride" takes precedence over everything. "Big pride" is always stronger. GregorB (talk) 16:09, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

User "Rjecina" deleting comments from this page

 * And why on Earth is participating in Talk Page considered as "vandalism"? These comments had now been deleted by user Equazcion, under the accusation of vandalism. Is vandalism stating that Tesla was Serbian American, which he was, and that he was a Yugoslav, and not Croatian patriot, supporting it with actual facts and links? Or is vandalism deleting Serbian references, and preventing the presentation of facts? Marechiel (talk) 10:43, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Banned editor is not allowed to edit. After you will be blocked again I will delete all your changes :))))--Rjecina (talk) 12:02, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Your behavior is reported to Administrators. You shouldn't and mustn't delete constructive and argumentative comments from Talk Page if you aren't capable of dealing with them, and second, don't you dare threaten and mock me. I have never been banned from Wikipedia, nor have ever been accused and/or committed any act of vandalism, and the IP's I signed my recent edits with, are from Serbian Telekom's IP-pool used by app. 60% Internet users in Serbia. Marechiel (talk) 19:39, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
 * In your own words you have broken wikipedia rules ! You have used 3 different accounts to edit this article in 25 hours . There is no need to say anything more--Rjecina (talk) 07:06, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

There is no indication Marechiel is a sock, as far as I can see. Rjecina and Equaczion, please stop rolling him back; this is, by default, a legitimate user. Marechiel, please stop hitting back at Rjecina with personal attacks (even though your anger may be understandable). This was a misunderstanding, everybody please get over it and return to discussing the article normally and civilly. Also, please don't edit logged-out when editing controversial articles. Plus, everybody please stop edit-warring. Everybody is reminded of WP:ARBMAC, again. Fut.Perf. ☼ 08:15, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I have stoped all edit warring (in my thinking vandal protection) after Marechiel has stoped to edit from IP address and started to edit with his real name, but this SPA account even after your warning can't stop to edit from IP address.
 * Only reason for edits of this SPA account is to write how everybody is Serbian. Because I will not here comment his other edits I will speak only about Nikola Tesla. Maybe I am mistaking but best NPOV solution is to say that he has been inventor and nothing about his nationality. This is only solution to stop future nationalistic edit wars which has been solved with article version before Marechiel edits.
 * If we look other similar articles we can even say:"Nikola Tesla was a Croatian born inventor ...." (examples:Albert Einstein, Fritz Haber) but this version will only create edit warring like today version of this SPA account. --Rjecina (talk) 08:54, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Puppet question is solved (and I am not happy). Marechiel is "only" having bad habit to edit from IP address. What now ? I am interested in propositions about this article to avoid new nationalistic edit warring.--Rjecina (talk) 12:19, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I am glad that I am finally proclaimed "clean". I only had to spit my blood out proving it, but never mind that. In order, not to stop "nationalistic edit wars", but to make the intro as accurate and truthful as possible, I strongly suggest that the "Serbian American" reference stays. My reasons and arguments are the following: 1) Tesla indeed was an American scientist of Serbian ethnicity, which is the exact meaning of the phrase Serbian American. 2) Tesla was not only Serbian American by birth and citizenship, but also an active member of Serbian community in the USA, and a devoted Serbian patriot until the day he died. 3) Since last 70-80 years, and especially after his death, Tesla's been admired and considered as a national figure of great importance among Serbs and in Serbia. It my sound exotic to persons coming from great nations, such as American, French or German, but Tesla is, among Milankovitch and Pupin, a rare figure by whom Serbs are recognized and mentioned as a nation. This is not a thing to easily dismiss, primarily for the sake of Tesla himself, his devotion and his beliefs, and secondarily because every now and then new users will try to put the Serbian American reference back: he is accepted as such in all official literature. 4) Last but not least, most protests against presenting him as Serbian American come from Croatia, which has made Tesla its "brand" since last year. I am not trying to sound "racistic" here, but let's face it: this shows as primarily a Serbian-Croatian issue, with little interest outside this ex-Yugoslav circle, but let's dig into it. Serbs and Croats were at war which ended very recently from now. Tesla was a Serb from Croatia. Serbs from Croatia waged war in WWII and in the 1990's against Croatian state. Serbs were expelled as 'rebels', Tesla's living descendants among them (see the article about Tesla's great-grandniece in the text). On the other side, Tesla is and accepted and recognized figure of global significance. From Croatian POV, Tesla was born "in Croatia", was "loyal to it", and "had nothing to do with Serbia". Combining this with post-war emotions, national disputes and quarrels, we get that Tesla is being presented as "Croatian" as a par-statement that he was "Serbian", and as a compromise, a suggestion of "let's not make this thing important" is offered. And the truth is that Tesla was indeed born in the then Serb-populated and today Croat-populated territory that is 150 years later part of modern Croatian state, that he was a devoted Serb and Serbian patriot, that he was a citizen of the USA, and that he himself and world media of the time presented him as Serbian American, a category similar to Italian Americans, Native Americans etc.


 * And again, I will go back to Rjecina. I am surprised that he qualifies putting Serbian reference to famous Serbs as "nationalistic", while at the same time he goes and presents them as "Croats", "Bosniaks" etc. This is yet another issue. A confirmed Serb and part of Serbian literature exclusevely, by his own words, statements, beliefs and final testament, Meša Selimović, is posthumously presented by Rjecina as "Yugoslavian" of "Bosniak parentage" (note: Bosniak nation didn't even exist then by that name). One Josif Pančić, a Serbian national figure of great importance, is by him a "Serbo-Croatian". Not Serbian of Croatian ethnicity, not Serbian of Croatian this or that, but "Serbo-Croatian" in the national sense, although there is absolutely no reference that the person ever named or considered himself a Croat, but did as a Serb. And now we have Tesla, a newly proclaimed Croatian "brand", and a user from Croatia, a witch-hunter of Serbian trolls, with specific interest in fighting against "Serbian POV" who thinks it's "the most objective solution" that we shouldn't talk about Tesla's nationality at all, since Croats can as well claim that he was Croatian (sic!), so we'd better put this thing under the carpet for the sake of benefit of the community.


 * I apologize for naming the (now removed) article "Tesla was Serbian American - what problem do Croats have with that", but I think I am not wrong to still think that the only people who will feel the need to remove Tesla's Serbian reference will come mostly from Croatia. In my experience, I haven't yet found anyone else who would have problem with that. And if I am mistaken about Rjecina and his motives, I have to repeat that he didn't delete my input on the basis of constructive nature of its content, but solely on the basis of the IP they came from. He also kept addressing me in disrespectful and insulting manner, disregarding arguments I presented and just brutally deleting them. Also, I haven't yet seen any apology from him for taking away my time to retype things I already wrote, for mocking me and threatening me that he will have my account banned, and for spreading lies among others that I am a banned user he's had contact with. And if editing articles (and I think I wasn't so far destructive in any way) with obtained IP's is forbidden, I think there's an option to prevent this in articles. I did so only because of practical reasons - I have my password cached in this browser and this OS, but I happen to use others (both browsers and OS's) on my computer which I often change. And again, I didn't "confirm" that I was editing from "3 different accounts", but as I already explained, Telekom Srbija gives IP's dynamically, and not only me, but all users, obtain a different one every time they turn on their computer, or reset their modem. Sorry for the long input. Marechiel (talk) 22:49, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Tesla ancestry
Because of Marechiel demands (ultimatum ?) for definition with which article will start we can open other questions about his "Serbian" ancestry.


 * 1) During speach on Tesla funeral New York mayor LaGuardia has described Tesla as the son of a Greek clergyman.
 * 2) Tesla's father had been ordained at what had originally been a Greek Orthodox Church, not a Serbian Orthodox church.
 * 3) Tesla did not attend a Serbian school because none existed at the time in Croatia
 * 4) Tesla identified himself as a Croat on his arrival at the Castle Garden Immigration office in Manhattan in 1884, even though the Croatian region of his birth was administered from Austria and not directly from Croatia at the time Tesla was living there
 * 5) Tesla's ashes had not been held at an American Serbian church ground, nor was there ever a bust of Tesla by the Serbian church
 * 6) if Tesla had really been Serbian, would it not be the case that the Serbian-born scientist and Serbian activist (and one-time Serbian Ambassador in US) M. Pupin in America would have come to his aid in 1911 ?
 * 7) The main source of claims to Tesla's Serbian ancestry seem to have originated from Sava N. Kosanovic, a member of the Yugoslav Mission to the USA in New York during WWII.
 * 8) Tesla's sister had married a Serb, and Sava Kosanovic was their son suggesting perhaps that Tesla's association with Serbian ethnicity occurred indirectly through marriage of his relatives, and not through his ancestors.

I am really interested to here answers about this statements...--Rjecina (talk) 07:00, 14 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Many of those "statements" are easily and with solid backup proved totally untrue:


 * 1) Here is the audio of Mayor LaGuardia's eulogy: Mayor LaGuardia's eulogy (audio), and here is the text he read: Mayor LaGuardia's eulogy (text). Not even once is his father mentioned. Twice is as the land of Tesla's birth stated the state of Yugoslavia, and not Croatia. So, you lied. Lie #1. (I said "lie", because being from Croatia you know very well what you are talking about).


 * 2) A dishonest manipulation made up to confuse people who are not from Serbia and Croatia. Serbian Orthodox Church had been persistently named as Greek, Greek-schismatic, Greek-non-unified by Catholic sources in Austria-Hungary. Even today, Greek is a synonym for Eastern-rite in many languages. For instance, Ruthenians in Croatia are even today called as "Greek-Catholics", because of their practice of Eastern (Byzantine) rite.


 * Tesla's father was a Serbian Orthodox priest. His episcopacy was a spiritual heir of Peć Patriarchy, and not Constantinople Greek Patriarchy. The language of his services and rites was Serbian redaction of Church-Slavonic, and not Greek. Also, Tesla calls his father's mother tongue 'Serbian', and folk poetry he was taught 'Serbian national poetry' (see: Nikola Tesla's Autobiography).


 * So, this supposed 'Greek' has a Serbian name, makes services in Serbian, speaks Serbian as his mother tongue, collects a library of Serbian translations of literature classics and teaches his son Serbian national poetry as his own. Lie #2.


 * 3) Croats and Serbs at the time mostly attended the same schools in Croatia, and this whole "argument" #3 is insignificant. Tesla attended classes in Serbian (called by Croats Croatian, but in the essence the same language). A subtheses: will you this pathetically go around and delete Croatian reference for those Croats who attended Hungarian, Austrian or Polish schools? I highly doubt.


 * This argument #3 is irrelevant for the discussion.


 * 4) Tesla never identified himself as Croat, and this is lie #3. Here's what Tesla says about his ethnicity on June 1st 1892, in Serbian capital Belgrade: "Ako se te moje nade ispune, najslađa misao biće mi da je to djelo jednog Srbina. Živjelo Srpstvo!" (If these hopes of mine fulfill, the sweetest thought to me will be that it was the work of a Serb. Long live Serbdom!) BRANIMIR JOVANOVIĆ, "Nikola Tesla", Belgrade 1997. Lie #3.


 * 5) Irrelevant. Tesla was a citizen of the USA. Serbian American, but American nevertheless.


 * 6) A pitiful attempt. Tesla was in a quarrel with Michael Pupin and they didn't speak with each other. They finally made up when Pupin was dying. I don't know what are you trying to prove by this? That members of the same nation should be excellent friends in order to be countrymen? Ridiculous. By that logic, Americans aren't of the same nation, since they had a civil war.


 * 7) Lie #4. Tesla's Serbdom had been celebrated in Kingdom Serbia and Kingdom Yugoslavia, long before Sava Kosanović was even born. Tesla speaks of it, Montenegrin officials speak of it, Serbian officials speak of it, Yugoslavian officials speak of it, and all that happened before Sava Kosanović came into focus of Yugoslavian public life as its prominent figure. Yet another Tesla's quote from the mentioned Jovanović's book: "Ja sam, kao što vidite i čujete ostao Srbin i preko mora, gde se ispitivanjima bavim. To isto treba da budete i vi i da svojim znanjem i radom podižete slavu Srpstva u svetu." (As you can see and hear, I remained a Serb far across the seas, where I do my research. This also what you should remain, and to raise the glory of Serbdom by your knowledge and work). An excerpt of Tesla's speech to Serbian University students in Belgrade, June 1st 1892.


 * 8) Again a lie, and an extension of the Lie #4. A pitiful attempt to construct a conspiracy theory about Tesla's nephew "inventing" Tesla's ethnicity in the second half of 20th century. You should read articles and speeches made by Tesla himself during his life. And here's something to you, that you kept deleting wherever I tried to put it: Nikola Tesla: Tribute to King Alexander. Here you should read that Tesla, beside considering himself a Serb, doesn't even consider Croats as a nation, but only a tribe, and Croatia not a state, but only a province. And here's a picture of Tesla in his last days, supporting the Commander-In-Chief of Chetniks, King Peter II: teslast9.jpg.


 * There are numerous references where Tesla called himself a Serb, both in America, Serbia and Austria-Hungary, references of naming his mother tongue Serbian and ever-repeating that he was proud of being a Serb. Tesla was not only of Serbian ethnicity - he was a Serbian patriot.


 * But, what difference does that all make, when this Budalcina - pardon me, Rjecina - is caught in several lie. First, he claims that New Your Mayor LaGuardia said that Tesla's father was an ethnic Greek! Simply false, and everyone can listen and read LaGuardia's eulogy, and he never mentions such a thing, but only mentions Yugoslavia twice, as Tesla's homeland. Tesla's country were the USA, and his ethnicity Serbian. Second, Rjecina tries to present Tesla's community in Croatia as ethnic Greek, solely on the basis that all Eastern-rite churches were called "Greek" in Austria. Third, Rjecina lies about Tesla never calling him a Serb, and calling him an ethnic Croat. I put two very important quotes from Tesla's public speeches in Serbia, one in the public, and one to Serbian students, and also Tesla's tribute to assassinated King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, where he clearly states that he doesn't even consider Croats and Croatia as a nation, but only a tribe and a province.


 * I think the lies and agenda are exposed. Tesla was an American citizen of Serbian ethnicity and Serbian immigrant himself, also a Serbian patriot until the sad day he died, which exactly makes him Serbian American, even more than Mila Jovovich or Carl Malden who are de facto naturalized Americans. Tesla wasn't. Marechiel (talk) 19:49, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) You argument is false because you are using Mayor LaGuardia's eulogy from 10 January to defeat Mayor LaGuardia speach from Tesla funeral which has been on 12 January !
 * 2) Yes. Site Rastko is know for neutrality (this has been sarcasm)
 * 3) You have accepted that Tesla is product of his genius and Croatian education
 * 4) It is funny why he has declared on US border control that he is from Croatia ?
 * 5) Really irrelevant ?
 * 6) Fact that he has not recieved help from Serbia embassy during hours of need is not important ?
 * 7) Now I will say irrelevant. When his comments has been asked by Serbia he has spoken about Serbdom. When he is asked from Croatia he has spoken about Serbian origins and Croatian homeland.
 * 8) Do you want to say because of meeting with Yugoslav king that he has supported Dražu Mihajlovića which is war criminal and quisling ??
 * It is time that I end discussion with Marechiel and his POV thinking. Maybe I am mistaking but Marechiel is thinking that Tesla is Serbian inventor because he has been proud of serbian origins. On other side in Marechiel thinking fact that Tesla has been proud of his Croatian homelands is not important !! This is clearly POV position because of which I am changing again text in article on neutral comment that he has been inventor.
 * In summer of 2007 I have called RFC to defeat POV position of few editors which has not allowed that we write how Tesla is born in Croatia. If POV reverting about this continue I will call new RFC with question if we will write that he has been Serbian inventor or only inventor. After that all discussions will end.--Rjecina (talk) 07:47, 22 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Rjecina, to an outside observer, you look to be spewing not much more than vitriol. Your response if frustrated and you offer absolutely no sources of your own --- I would, for one, love to hear the audio, or at least a transcript from a non tripod-like website of the supposed January 12th eulogy by the mayor in which Tesla is referred to as a Greek.  If you cannot provide at least that, I would say that your credibility is seriously at stake.  Rastko similarly looks to be a Serbian site, but you offer absolutely no proof that any of the sourcing here is fraudulent; the tribute to the King looks to be especially damning leaving little doubt as to who Tesla supported.  You similarly dodge #7 quite inexpertly.  Furthermore, your repetition of supposed facts without absolutely any evidence and sourcing is problematic, to say the least.  --User: Daniel Monaghan

Tesla was not Serbian Ortodox church member
At the time of the Tesla's birth Serbian Ortodox church simply was not in Croatia and Bosnia&Herzegovina, neither Montenegro. At the time of the Tesla's birth All Eastern rite churches were called just Eastern-rite, Greek-rite church , Greek non-united  church  etc. Not Serbian Ortodox church simply because SOC  had no jurisdiction over them. Neither over Montenegrin Orthodox Church which was autocephaly.
 * Each ortodox church is idivided by nationality :Russian, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian ,Ukrainian etc.

When 1918 was Kingdom of Yugoslavia(then Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) SOC annexed (as Serbia has annexed Montenegro) and all churches and monasteries that belonged to the Montenegrin Orthodox Church became property of SOC.

Moreover, SOC declared jurisdiction for all Eastern-rite religions inside Yugoslavia.

--Anto (talk) 07:25, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Tesla declared most of the time that he was from Croatia .  Sometimes he was saying that he wa from Lika.Not from Austria, Austro-Hungary neither some fictional Krajina.
 * Military frontier was not "serb-populated" . Majority of its populatation were Croats.

Intro
Tesla should not be referred to as a "subject" of the Austrian Empire. He could be called a resident/citizen or something else. "Subject" implies that he was some sort of slave.


 * "Subject" is the technical term for a citizen/resident of a monarchical state (of which the Austrian Empire was one), and has no such connotations. Nagakura shin8 08:40, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Nikola Tesla was an Istro-Romanian not an serb, this opinion was widely believed by american historians but now we know that he was an Istro-Romanian, as it is on the Romanian Wikipedia. Please change ! AlexanderXVI 22:39, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * What are you talking about man?! Nikola Tesla was a Serb and that is a known fact and nobody from Romania or any other country should be attampting to alter the facts! Both his parents were ethnic serbs! And what is an Istro-Romanian ?! We might as well  pronounce him as an Afro-American.


 * Actually, no, Istro-Romanians are an ethnic minority in Croatia. Unfortunately there's absolutely no evidence Tesla was one; he described himself as a Serb and his passport said Austrian, since he was from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Nagakura shin8 (talk) 21:03, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

The Istro-Romanians are a branch of the Wallach people. Nikola Tesla was in fact of wallach orthodox ancestry. By that time all the wallach that were orthodox (almost 95% of the wallachs) were considered as serbians. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.230.154.155 (talk) 18:50, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Let's please stop the nonsense. His father was a priest for the Serbian Orthodox Church and his mother the daughter of a Serbian Orthodox priest.  It's incredible someone is trying to pass him off as anything else but Serbian, or more accurately, Serbian-American, since his ethnic affiliation is crystal clear.  Finally, he self-identified as a Serb, which is, of course, the litmus test.  The Istro-Romanian nonsense has no place in the article either, and presents some further wishful thinking.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.235.253.216 (talk) 16:22, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

There's no doubt he was of serbian ethnicity but it's a fact that both of his parents had wallachian blood. Tesla was a croatian of serbian ethnicity. Tesla said that he was very proud of his serbian ethnicity and that he was also very proud of his croatian homeland, period. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.42.162.195 (talk) 22:14, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Personality
"he probably disclaimed his Jewish ancestry, playing as atheist"

With all the debate on Tesla's ancestry, this claim needs some support. Where does this opinion come from? Is "Tesla" a Jewish last name? Tesla's parents were both Orthodox Christians and he was Serbian or Croatian. Since the article also claims that he is anti-semitic I believe more explanation is needed. Why is he being painted as a self loathing member of a religion when most evidence says otherwise?

Kwijibo950 02:22, 27 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Tesla's lineage from both sides of the family is Serbian Orthodox, his father being a Serbian priest and his mother being the daughter of one. He wasn't remotely Jewish.  Or Croatian for that matter: prior to this war, more than 10% of Croatia's inhabitants were Serbian.      —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.235.253.216 (talk) 16:28, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Is really Tesla a Serb?
Yesterday I was reading something about the dacians on a romanian website and there was on the site a list of famous daco-romanians and surprise, I saw the name Nicolae Tesla( the romanian version of Nikola Tesla) so I searched on google the name nicolae tesla and I found many articles about the ethnicity of Tesla all of them saying the same story: -first of all that he was an Istro-Romanian -secondly it says that the original name of the family was not tesla but Draghici that is a common name in Romania -then it says that became the name of the family because family's traditional ocupation( "carpenter"=(in romanian)"dulgher" or "teslar") and so from "teslar" resulted "Tesla" -then the region were tesla was born, Lika was populated by Istro-Romanians and Morlachs -and also on an recorded tape Henri Coanda says that he met Tesla because of his father when he was a child( Tesla was 4 mounths younger than Coanda's father) and little Henri remained impressed by Tesla and alwais mentioned in the interview that Tesla was romanian. I you want to see one of these articles here's one in romanian: http://megalit.ro/libria/2008/02/20/scurta-biografie-a-lui-nikola-tesla/ (talk) 19:40, 10 October 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dragoscpp (talk • contribs)

Add Serbian Cyrillic : Никола Тесла
Why there isn`t his name in Serbian Cyrillic next to his Name in Latin alphabet? Serbian is written both in Cyrillic and Latin. The previous reason "Serbian wasn't always and indeed, isn't always written in the Cyrillic script, in fact those that do so are often making a political statement regarding their preferred alliance (with Russia rather than other neighbouring powers) more than anything."

- 90.195.192.175 (talk) is very stupid and it is not a good and true argument. Serbian is more often written in Cyrillic and that is not because of modern politics, but because Cyrillic is made in Balkans...and Serbian Cyrillic is older than Russian. So, please, resolve this. --93.87.133.45 (talk) 12:49, 27 December 2009 (UTC)


 * Why don't you add to Nikola Tesla Serbian Cyrillic? If in Wikipedia all the articles connected with Serbs / Serbia has that, why not this one???? If we respect and have in some Serbian articles f.e. Subotica, then Serbian Cyrillic... then Croatian : Subotica... I mean, it is written the same as in Serbian Latin, but we do have it added in wikipedia, why not this???? Please! Respect your own rules here! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.93.167.142 (talk) 11:40, 10 January 2010 (UTC)


 * I second the motion FC Toronto (talk) 00:40, 14 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Please add next to the name Serbian Cyrillic! Look at the grave of Nikola's father made by Nikola... all in Cyrillic. He respected very much national script! Also can you add that picture to the wikipedia? http://www.teslasociety.ch/info/familie/family_tesla_6.jpg "To Milutin Tesla, his son Nikola"


 * The argument about Tesla's father does not have a bearing on this article about Tesla. If we had an article about the father, we could put Serbian Cyrillic into it. Here on this article, a long-standing battle has been quashed, one in which Tesla is fought over by Serbs and Croats. We will not be adding fuel to that flame again... Binksternet (talk) 16:13, 29 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Personally, I think it has historical value to display Nikola Tesla's name in Cyrilic, but only if his birth certificate or other official documents, perhaps his University credentials, proved that he used it. I see no problem with other articles, like the one about Milla Jovovich which actually gives her different names, and different Latin transliterations. However, if this has spurred debates before then I would be willing to wait until the parties involved calmed down. By the way, I'm no Croatian or Serbian, I'm just the general enthusiastic engineer.---189.250.220.228 (talk) 16:16, 12 May 2010 (UTC)


 * I have no idea if it's true, but some sources claim he was actually of Istro-Romanian ethnicity. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.24.69.164 (talk) 17:42, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

He was Serbian and he was from the "Vojna Krajina" not the non-existant "Hrvatska Vojna Krajina"...
It's just sad to see anti-Serbian propaganda here, he wasn't Yugoslav, he was a Serb, his father was a Serbian Orthodox priest, you can't get more Serbian... And the Croatian military frontier is a joke...
 * Serbian nationalist nonsense. The Croatian Military Frontier (Hrvatska Vojna Krajina) was a subdivision, among many, of the Military Frontier (Vojna Krajina). -- DIREKTOR  ( TALK ) 08:57, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

What about following facts - it redefines whole of his origin as described on this pages: http://www.hrvatskipravoslavci.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6:tajna-strogo-skrivanog-dnevnika-nikole-tesle&catid=2:povijest&Itemid=6 89.201.173.58 (talk) 11:43, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Ethnicity
Tesla (per citation) cited loyalty to his Serbian roots and his Croatian homeland. Therefore I think it's appropriate that we list his ethnicity as Serbian. Thoughts? Rklawton (talk) 19:48, 4 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Well, that is fact, anyway. I ✅. -- WhiteWriter speaks 19:59, 4 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I think you should list him as Croat because he was born there and he accepted it. He didn't deny his roots but still he was a Croat. . 0:21, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from Rekonstruh, 17 December 2010
Rekonstruh (talk) 18:07, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Please change nationality from Croatian to Serbian,as Tesla was a Serb,which is undisputable fact and is already established in the rest of the article and its sources. Thank you!

Sources(if you need them): http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bogdan/tesla/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/588597/Nikola-Tesla http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Nikola+Tesla http://www.vias.org/encyclopedia/curriculum_tesla.html http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Nikola_Tesla.htm
 * Declined. Read Talk:Nikola_Tesla/Nationality_and_ethnicity a few times over. I wanted to change his nationality to "European" which would have avoided all this. Same thing for John Logie Baird. --Wtshymanski (talk) 19:45, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Tesla is Croatian
I am from Croatia, and I think that Nikola Tesla is Croat - everybody in Croatia thinks that, and we always celebrate his birthday and we even have a museum about him. But here it says that he is Serb! How is that possible?! Someone please answer. IksDe (talk) 12:18, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
 * He was born in Croatia to Serbian parents. His father was a priest in the Serb Orthodox church, Tesla wasn't catholic, so it seems pretty clear what his ethnicity was.Walterego (talk) 13:01, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Edit request from 79.175.120.69, 18 December 2010
Please change "Nationality: Croatian" to "Nationality: Serbian". Nikolas father was Serbian Orthodox Christian priest, and all Croatians are Catholic, so he cant be a Croatian.

79.175.120.69 (talk) 03:12, 18 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: Please refer to Talk:Nikola_Tesla/Nationality_and_ethnicity. Shearonink (talk) 15:55, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

How all Croats are Catholic? Are you retarded or stupid? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.240.59.113 (talk) 01:33, 28 December 2010 (UTC)
 * It is Serbian. --Τασουλα (Shalom!) (talk) 18:41, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Birthplace
The village where Nikola Tesla was born was part of the Ottoman Empire during his birth. The area and the city of Gospic were part of Bosnia prior to the coming of the Ottomans. The city of Gospic as well as all of Lika and Dalmatia were ethnically cleansed of Bosnians and settled when Austrio-Hungary occupied Bosnia and split bosnia into 3 areas, Lika and Dalmatia (forced all bosnians to leave to Ottoman Turkey, Von Bismarck's bosnia (today's bosnia), and the sancak of Yeni Pazar and what is called Montenegro today (excluding Cetinje and Ulcinj). Since austrio-Hungary didn't occupy 2/3 of Bosnia until 1867, your records are based on records at time of application and not at the time of entry into the us.  Austro-hungary occupied Bosnia (Bosnia-herzegovina (german name Herzegovina added by Otto Von Bismarck of Germany at the congress of berlin in 1878) from 1867 to 1917. Lika and Dalmatia were considered the military Kraina called bosnian kraina and the serbs were the soldiers of the Ottomans(the only christian soldiers in the empire. the serbs of lika and dalmatia were allowed to own property and live their lives as if they were bosnians or ottoman turks.  Unlike serbs of von bismarck's bosnia and the sancak of yeni pazar and what is called montenegro, serbs of lika and dalmatia were not kmets or slaves.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.97.113.85 (talk) 04:53, 15 January 2011 (UTC)

Unfortunately history
There is no such thing as "Croatian military frontier". That same frontier Croatians ethnically cleansed in 1995 and during the WWII. His father was orthodox priest Milutin (common Serbian name), so he is a Serb, just like he said lots of times. There are no orthodox Croatians, because their only distinction from the Serbs is catholicism. Catholicism was base on which that so called nation was created. Major role in this process had Austria-Hungary. Of course, no less important was Vatican. These days they are founding so called Croatian orthodox church in order to present this process as reverse. It is unbelievable that we have to discuss such matters on this topic, but forging have to be disclosed and corrected. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zan D Alf (talk • contribs) 04:31, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
 * The Croatian Military Frontier was an administrative division of the Military Frontier, like the Slavonian Military Frontier, or the Banat Military Frontier, etc. It was called "Croatian", because it was created out of the territory of the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia.


 * What then would you say of an atheist Croat? :) Only in the Balkans do different religions create different "nations", a different religion does NOT a different nation make. However: to call this one nation with three religions "Serbs" is Šešelj/Chetnik nonsense where I draw the line. "Serbs" is a name for the orthodox, eastern part of this one, unfortunately unnamed nation ("Jugoslaveni" simply means "South Slavs" and includes Slovenes, Macedonians, and arguably Bulgarians as well, who are simply not the same nation as we). (Of course, the vast majority of the people I know would be terribly offended by your claim that Croats and Serbs are only separated by religion.) -- DIREKTOR  ( TALK ) 11:33, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

Nikola Tesla's unpublished diary
Please change Nikola Tesla's nationality back to Croatian, as it is confirmed in his personal diary from his own quotations, the diary has been kept in a Serbian museum up until recently. The link to the diary: http://www.hrvatskipravoslavci.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6:tajna-strogo-skrivanog-dnevnika-nikole-tesle&catid=2:povijest&Itemid=6 The text on the page is on Croatian, but you can tun it through a online dictionary. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hogarfighter (talk • contribs) 20:30, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Hogarfighter (talk) 20:35, 11 February 2011 (UTC)


 * He is ethnically represented in this article: Serbs in Croatia. FkpCascais (talk) 02:29, 12 February 2011 (UTC)
 * While I am very sceptical, can you provide any real published sources that refer to this alleged unpublished diary of Nikola Tesla? Though I must admit this sounds to me like the typical "Serbian conspiracy theory" nonsense from Croatia. -- DIREKTOR  ( TALK ) 11:26, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

Supposed Serbian ethnicity is listed, but Croat and Albanian isn't?
Shame on you wikipedia for being a parrot of Serbian propaganda! Tesla, much like Kosovo, is not Serbian! Tesla was Croat/Albanian, born and educated in Austria-Hungary. There is far too much emphasis on his imagined 'Serbness', it seems like this page is being bombarded, something Serbian "people" are quite familiar with. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Imakealotoftypos (talk • contribs) 17:52, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I supose a person who´s father, named Milutin, who was a Serbian Orthodox Church priest must have really been an ideal candidate for being considered a Croat/Albanian person, just as his mother Đuka, daughter of, again, a Serbian Orthodox Church priest. I supose you must imagine numerous Croats and Albanians being priests in Serbian Orthodox Churches... But, of course, if you have a source for this claims, please bring them. FkpCascais (talk) 18:53, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Milutin was forcibly Serbianized, which wasn't uncommon then and certainly isn't uncommon in modern days. Just like the indigenous Siberian people who have had Russian Orthodox forced upon them, they aren't Russian. They will never be Russians - they exist, therefore they resist.


 * I have plenty of sources. None, however, come from Serbian nationalists so you will just remove them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Imakealotoftypos (talk • contribs) 04:03, 14 June 2011 (UTC)
 * There are literally hundreds of books written about Tesla and they all agree that Tesla was a Serb from Croatia. There's even a telegram sent by Tesla to Vlatko Maček kept at the Zagreb Technical Museum, dated 26 May 1936, in which Tesla said that he was "equally proud of his Serbian ancestry and Croatian homeland". So stop the nonsense.  Timbouctou ( talk ) 00:04, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Of course they all say that; they, too, have been spoon fed this Serbian propaganda that he was, like all other accomplished "Serbs", purely Serbian and didn't have ounce of anything else in his blood. And if he did he wouldn't be accomplished. He was so Serbian that he pissed the colors of the Serbian flag!

This nationalist mythology is quite common throughout Serbia, Wikipedia is not a place to parrot such drivel.Imakealotoftypos (talk) 09:54, 23 June 2011 (UTC)
 * "Croatian/Albanian"? Um... what? Looks like Albanian/Kosovar nationalist nonsense to me. Provide your sources or please stop. -- DIREKTOR  ( TALK ) 19:46, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Nikola Tesla, a Serbian born in Croatia and proud of it all
The stupidity and lack of scholarship on this point is disgusting, I agree. In her authoritative biography, Margaret Cheney quoted Tesla as always saying he was equally proud of being a Serb and of having been born in Croatia.

She quotes him further as saying he could not understand why Serbians and Croatians refused to find a way to unite. To me, Tesla is the ultimate authority, don't you agree? His perspective and opinion should be the final word.75.21.113.40 (talk) 14:27, 2 November 2011 (UTC)


 * In the article, we do let Tesla have the last word. He is quoted, "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland. Long live all Yugoslavs." \
 * Cheers! Binksternet (talk) 15:01, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

ugly talk page
I find it very ugly and disturbing how this talkpage is littered with nationalist biggots claiming that tesla was croatia/albanian/austrian/malasian, etc... I ask the administration to take very prompt action towards banning people who decide to cause trouble in the future regarding this. We must not tolerate nationalistic myths of one group or another. (LAz17 (talk) 16:05, 24 June 2011 (UTC)).


 * We don't tolerate nationalistic points of view in the biography of Tesla but here on the talk page we can address such views. Voicing an opinion is not a blockable offense. Binksternet (talk) 16:35, 24 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I strongly agree with you. It doesn't matter what ethnicity he was. He was a human, who wanted the world to be a peaceful place. “Patriotism is a menace to liberty.” Emma GoldmanSlushy9 (talk) 19:20, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

New take on this...
I dont want to sound like a man who wants to argue, but his nationality is Serbian... since back then there was no country called Croatia... its the same as if you call Gaius Julius Caesar an Italian.. it is the right place but not the right time.. he is Roman.. but surely Tesla was not an American.. so even in the beginning of the text were it says he was a Serbian-American inventor, is wrong.. he lived part of his life there.. please edit this.. its not about pride or anything.. its about truth and to respect this great man.. this is a site were you look for the correct info. thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OAZineddin (talk • contribs) 17:31, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

While there is no institutional continuity between Roman Empire and modern Italy that is not the case with Croatia and it's status in Austria during Habsburg rule, it is the same administrative authority or national state only in different power circumstances, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Croatia_%28Habsburg%29 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.136.112.105 (talk) 01:40, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

OK, so that makes him a "Croatian immigrant and naturalized citizen of Serbian ancestry", right? --Scalhotrod - Just your average banjo playing, drag racing, cowboy... (talk) 03:07, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

Funny
Tesla is not Croatian since there was no Croatia at the time he was born but he was Serbian even there was no Serbia at the time he was born. What kind of an stupid argument is that.

If he cant be Croatian since the main argument is that Croatia at that time was a part o Austro-Hungarian empire so Tesla cant call Croatia his home how can he call Serbia his home since it was a part of Ottoman empire and was not a independent state until 1878 and Tesla was born in 1856.

Since Turks won Serbia in 1459 and held it until 1867 Tesla can then only be a turk or from a 400 year old Serbian refugee family in the Croatian military frontier or can he by any chance be a Croatian of ortodox religion since the ortodox church had very good relations with the Ottoman empire and religion at that time was something people would change very easy, so if you look at the map of Croatia today you can see it has the same shape it did for centuries when the Turks ruled Serbia since Croatia was the last frontier for the oncoming Ottoman empire.

That said Tesla can only be a refugee who maybe had a family in Serbia some 400 years ago but cant be called a Serb since there was no Serbia at that time but cant be called Croatian since there was no Croatia at that time, the nationality (state he ethnic allegedly belongs) he was given was under the turks for 4 centuries but is not a Turk or Austrian although he was born in the Austo-Hungarian empire but is not American even he had American citizenship so he can only be a Serb even he was there for maybe two times and no one from his family was born there but the sole proof of him being a Serb is the fact his father was an Ortodox priest and no one can tell me if Tesla himself was a believer or not so his religion cant be an argument.

So the main proof of him being Serbian is "He said so" but when people say he said he is proud of his Croatian home, than he did not said that since there was no Croatia at that time but he is a Serbian even there was no Serbia at that time, and so on, and so on...

Stupid as a stupid gets. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.164.142.255 (talk) 21:29, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

In case someone else posts that he's not Serbian...
I'm not Serbian nor Croatian, so there's no bias. On June 11, 1921, in a letter to George M. Mungao, Tesla wrote...I am Serbian... the province where I was born was at that time merely under the political rule of Austria which has nothing to do with nationality. --Nikola Tesla: The European Years, copyright 2002 D. Mrkich

Slushy9 (talk) 20:08, 23 August 2012 (UTC)

Let me guess, this source comes from Serbia... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.137.208.26 (talk) 22:36, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-born American inventor - Discussion
It has been discussed - particularly on here and I did not see anyone claiming that Tesla was Serbian born. He was a Serb. He was born in a place that is now in Croatia. It was not at any time in Serbia as far as I can see. This sentence is in error and should be updated to one of the previous versions - One of the least contentious versions seems to have been to say he was an inventor and then to add Born in Smiljan in the present-day Croatia, he was an ethnic Serb subject of the Austrian Empire and later became an American citizen. Even the reference given at that point states Tesla wrote that he was equally proud of his Serbian ethnicity and his Croatian birthplace. The previous version seems to have been:
 * Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor

until Backendgaming changed it on 07:38, 14 July 2013 to Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-born American inventor in order to adhere to WP:MOS. At some point after that the sentence was changed again to indicate he was a naturalised American.

 Antiqueight  discuss 11:26, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

"Oluja" is the answer
I know i am writing this 5 years to late but sorry dear croatia just take a look at your "Oluja" and you will see why Tesla is NOT croatian — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.230.242.108 (talk) 23:35, 1 July 2014 (UTC)