To mark Tesla’s 75th birthday, in 1931, Time magazine ran a cover story in which the inventor held forth on signaling the stars with his “Teslascope” — a giant radio transmitter. Enjoying his regained celebrity, he held annual press conferences on his birthday. During these events, Tesla warned about the dangers of global war and argued that disaster could be avoided only by developing a super weapon that could maintain a balance of terror. The ultimate deterrent, he claimed, was a ray gun or particle-beam device that could direct intense amounts of energy at enemy airplanes, ships and armies.