The fifth memorial conference dedicated to Nikola Tesla, entitled "Tesla Past, Present and Future 2018", organized by Tesla Science Foundation from Philadelphia, was held on 12 January this year, under the auspices of the Consulate-General of Serbia in New York.

The conference was traditionally held in the New Yorker Hotel were Tesla spent last years of his life and where he died on 7 January 1943, aged 87. The conference was attended by a large number of Tesla admirers from various fields – science, art, education, publishing, etc.

This year's conference focused on raising awareness about the life and legacy of Nikola Tesla in the USA, especially among young people. Mrs. Mirjana Zivkovic, Consul General of Serbia opened the conference.

"Serbia proudly emphasizes Tesla's ethnic origin. The name of Nikola Tesla is not only part of education programs but also part of our daily lives through many monuments, streets and boulevards named after him, such as Nikola Tesla Museum and Belgrade Airport. On the other hand, the name of Tesla in the United States, except for a relatively small number of technical experts and enthusiasts, many of whom are present here at the Conference, is usually associated with an electrically powered car. This is hardly fair, since Nikola Tesla spent almost 60 of his most prolific years in the United States and came up with his most important scientific inventions without which the present-day world would look totally different," Consul General Zivkovic said. She pointed to the importance of the Tesla Science Foundation which has been working hard since 2015 to include the name of Nikola Tesla in U.S. curricula.

Ms. Ashley Redfern, Executive Director of Tacony Academy, an elementary school in Philadelphia, which conducts a part of its public education program and teaches classes according to its own curriculum, highlighted the importance of the project promoting education in the field of science, inventions and research at an early age. She proposed that it might be useful if Tacony Academy established links with some of the schools in Serbia with similar curricula and conducted exchanges of pupils and teaching staff from the two countries.
Designer and professor at a U.S. art institute Brian Yetzer presented his works inspired by Nikola Tesla. These are inter-active posters based on augmented reality. Through a mobile phone App, a user can access interactive 3-D content offering information on the life of Nikola Tesla and his major inventions.

In the conference segment "Tesla and Science", Dr. Matteo Tacconi, manager of the Atmospheric Space Interactions Monitor with the European Space Agency, underscored the importance of Tesla and his scientific achievements for the development of technologies used by the European Space Agency for this type of monitoring.

President of "The Arizona Tesla Science Foundation" Robert Meyer spoke of the significance and application of virtual reality, as a modern education technology for children of the 21st century. He emphasized that visual 7D technology make children learn faster and have better test scores in school. Still, before it is widely applied it should be carefully examined whether it has any negative impact on human health, primarily on eyesight and orientation sensors.

The most prominent members of the Tesla Science Foundation were awarded medals in recognition of their long-standing participation, help and work in the Foundation. Mano Divina, performing on the theremin, an electronic musical instrument inspired by Tesla's ideas, and "Singing Electricity" band staged a "Tesla Night" concert.