Group Seeks Nikola Tesla Statue Erected in Palo Alto

In Silicon Valley, there's probably hundreds of little Nikola Teslas running around.

Tesla—an inventor, scientist and entrepreneur—has inspired Northern Imagination, a company supporting creative ideas and projects, to launch a Kickstarter project to create a statue of the inventor off California Avenue in Palo Alto. They need to raise about $123,000.

According to the project director, Dorrian Porter, he became "fascinated with the under appreciation" of Tesla in Silicon Valley where many other inventors receive more attention. However, through this Kickstarter campaign Porter hopes to remind the Silicon Valley community that he predicted this wireless revolution we've become accustomed too.

"Tesla was one of the most well-known inventors of his time," Porter said in the Kickstarter video. "He predicted a hundred years ago that we'd be carrying smartphones in our pockets and that wireless on trains was imminent."

Tesla immigrated to the United States in 1884 and initially work with Thomas Edison. After a failed work relationship, Tesla started his own company, which has been credited with the invention of the alternating current. This invention propelled the rise of electric company Westinghouse.

Porter, an attorney and start-up founder, approached landowner and developer 91-year-old Harold Hohbach and ask if he would accept a statute of Tesla on his property. Hohbach said "yes." Hohbach began his career at Westinghouse in 1946.

"When people hear the name Tesla in the Silicon Valley, their next question tends to be, what model do you drive?” Porter said. "The Tesla Statue is a gesture to tell the story of thetechnology entrepreneur who existed long before a company—or even the Silicon Valley."

The statue would be designed and sculpted by Terry Guyer, a local artist, in Menlo Park. Guyer has already built a model the statue.

If you'd like to support the erection of the statue, the Kickstarter campaign ends on June 2, 2013.

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