It’s been a while since popular online comic creator Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal) launched a successful campaign to save Nikola Tesla’s Wardenclyffe laboratory from imminent destruction — and additional campaigning has brought good news from Tesla Motors head Elon Musk on the inventor’s 158th birthday.
In case you missed it, Inman was instrumental back in 2012 with a popular and effective campaign to preserve Nikola Tesla’s legacy and prevent the site of his lab on Long Island from being turned into yet another bank.
Aiming to raise $850,000 to purchase the property, the hugely viral campaign instead raised more than a million dollars… and ensured that the site would stay in the hands of those who wished to preserve it.
Of course, the story didn’t end there. Long Island is notoriously expensive, and even one and a half million dollars doesn’t go very far in purchasing and developing property.
The museum needed more money, but the internet had already opened its pockets. It’s actually estimated that the Tesla museum needs another $8 million to come to fruition, and Inman had an idea.
The cartoonist is not only a fan of Tesla, but the owner of one of his namesake auto brand’s sedans. In a lengthy screed, Inman explained why his electric vehicle was amazing… and at the end, he called upon Elon Musk to donate $8 million to the museum to ensure that the project could be completed.
Yesterday on Facebook, the official page for The Oatmeal teased that an announcement involving Musk was forthcoming, but that the news would be saved for today, Tesla’s birthday.
Today, the page posted the following announcement:
[fb link=”https://www.facebook.com/theoatmeal/posts/10154402526940078?][/fb]
On his site, Inman explained that he’d spoken to Elon Musk about the proposition, and that he had good news to share.
He says :
“As some of you may know, I recently published a cartoonist’s review of my Tesla Model S . In the second half of the review, I asked Elon Musk to donate toward the completion of a Nikola Tesla Museum , a project I’ve been working on since 2012… Within a few hours of posting my review, Elon Musk tweeted that he’d be happy to help. Earlier this week I got to speak to the man directly, and he promised two things.”
Thing one was that Elon Musk would personally contribute $1 million to the Tesla Museum at Wardenclyffe, and thing two was that the CEO pledge to build a supercharger for Tesla vehicles at the site of the museum.
The official page for the Tesla Museum posted:
[fb link=”https://www.facebook.com/TeslaScienceCenter/posts/10152235530494103?][/fb]
Even if you don’t have Elon Musk money, you can follow and help the efforts to preserve the site and create a Tesla Museum over on Facebook .
[Image: The Oatmeal]