William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824-1907)

25 August 1897

Dear Mr. Tesla,

I duly received your kind letter and accompanying paper at the beginning of our meetings here.  I delayed writing to thank you for them until I should be able to tell you of the presentation of your paper to the Mathematical and Physical Section of the Association.  This took place yesterday and your instrument was shown in ‘action’.  We were all very much interested to see the brilliant effects given from an electric mechanism occupying so little space.  It called forth much interesting discussion and we were all very sorry that you were not present with us to explain more fully its details and principles, of which we got a general idea from your written paper.  I am leaving tomorrow with the British Association Excursion party for Vancouver.  I hope to be in New York about the end of September and I will look forward with much pleasure to the opportunity of seeing you there about that time, before leaving to England.

Believe me. Yours Very Truly, Kelvin

Just before departing America, Lord Kelvin denied the Martian signalling claim (The New York Times, May 11, 1902, p.29.):

"There is one thing I wish to emphatically deny, and that is the absurd report which quoted me as saying that the planet Mars was signalling to New York. What I really said was that the inhabitants of Mars, if there are any, were doubtless able to see New York, particularly the glare of the electricity."

• http://munty13.blogspot.com.es/2010/05/lord-kelvin-vs-aether-1901.html
  

• http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/module-2/correlation-between-temperature-and-radiation.php
  
• http://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/martians_signalling_earth.html
  
• http://picturesofinfinity.net/research/nikola-tesla-museum/