Nikola Tesla was notably critical of Albert Einstein’s theories, particularly the theory of relativity (both special and general). Tesla held a more classical, mechanistic view of physics. His perspective was rooted in the ether concept and absolute space/time. He saw relativity as overly mathematical. It appeared abstract and detached from observable physical reality.

Here are some of the most well-documented and frequently cited statements attributed to Tesla regarding Einstein (primarily from interviews and articles in the 1930s, near the end of Tesla’s life):

• One of his most famous critiques (from around 1935): “Einstein’s relativity work is a magnificent mathematical garb. It fascinates and dazzles. This makes people blind to the underlying errors. The theory is like a beggar clothed in purple whom ignorant people take for a king. Its exponents are very brilliant men, but they are metaphysicists rather than scientists.”
• On the curvature of space (a key element of general relativity): “I hold that space cannot be curved. This is for the simple reason that it can have no properties. It might as well be said that God has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these are of our own making. Of properties we can only speak when dealing with matter filling the space. In the presence of large bodies, it’s said that space becomes curved. This statement implies that something can act upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a view.”
• Tesla also rejected aspects like mass increasing with velocity and the speed of light as an absolute limit. He insisted mass is unalterable. Tesla believed that faster-than-light phenomena were possible in his view of the universe.

Tesla’s disagreements stemmed from philosophical and scientific grounds. He favored intuitive, mechanistic explanations over what he saw as “mathematical fantasies.” He believed relativity contradicted established experiments and the ideas of earlier scientists he admired.

Some popular internet anecdotes are fabricated and have no historical basis. One example involves the story of Einstein. He supposedly said, “I don’t know, ask Nikola Tesla” when called the smartest man alive. Tesla and Einstein never met or directly corresponded in any documented way, and their views remained fundamentally opposed.

Tesla’s criticisms didn’t gain mainstream traction, as Einstein’s theories became experimentally validated over time (e.g., gravitational lensing, time dilation in GPS, etc.), while Tesla’s alternative ideas (like dynamic theory of gravity) remained largely undeveloped and unpublished in detail.

In short, Tesla viewed Einstein as a brilliant but misguided mathematician whose work misled physics away from true mechanical principles.

Probably the two most influential intellectual figures of the 20th century were Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein. Both Hannukah celebrants. Freud’s magnificent contribution to our civilization was to convince the populace that all boys are born with a desire to kill their fathers and screw their mothers. Einstein, who apparently never learned to tie his shoes, developed a theory of “relativity” that is incomprehensible to pretty much everyone. The true genius Nikola Tesla had the courage to call Einstein’s theory, “a beggar wrapped in purple whom ignorant people take for a king.” Just think: without this magical theory, they could never have faked the moon flights.

Donald Jeffries