Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) is portrayed in many forms of popular culture. The Serbian-American engineer has particularly been depicted in science fiction, a genre which is well suited to address his inventions; while often exaggerated, the fictionalized variants build mostly upon his own alleged claims or ideas. A popular, growing fixation among science fiction, comic book, and speculative history storytellers is to portray Tesla as a member of a secret society, along with other luminaries of science. The impacts of the technologies invented by Nikola Tesla are a recurring theme in the steampunk genre of alternate technology science-fiction.

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Nikola Tesla Day

Tesla's birthday, 10 July, is celebrated by some as World Tesla Day, Nikola Tesla Day, or simply, Tesla Day. Some organizations celebrate Tesla Day informally on 10 July. However, The Tesla Memorial Society wrote letters to several officials asking to commemorate 10 July as international Nikola Tesla Day. Tesla's birthday (or in one case, both the day itself and the week leading up to it) is officially celebrated as a holiday in various parts of the world. In Serbia, 10 July is celebrated as the National Day of Science. In Croatia, it is called Nikola Tesla Day. In Niagara Falls, Canada, it is named as the Day of Nikola Tesla. In the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia, the local Association of Teachers also officially celebrate 10 July as the Day of Nikola Tesla though in practice, the celebrations last the seven days (one week) from 4 July to 10 July inclusive. Google honored Tesla on his birthday on 10 July 2009 by displaying a Google Doodle in the Google search home page, that showed the G as a Tesla coil. On 7 January 2021 (which is both Orthodox Christmas and the anniversary of Nikola Tesla's death), the Tesla Science Foundation Serbia (TSFA) sent a petition to the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church proposing that the Synod consider the canonization of Nikola Tesla as an Orthodox saint with his birthday, 10 July as his feast day.

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A number of live theatrical plays based on Tesla's life have been produced and staged worldwide.

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