Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 09:44, 22 April 2024

This page is for discussions over Tesla's ethnicity, nationality, and/or birthplace. Previous discussions have been archived from the main talk page, which is now reserved for editorial discussions. This is not a repository for Serb/Croat comments violating WP:NPA: those will simply be removed.

Archives

Archive 1 Archive 2 Archive 3 Archive 4 Archive 5 Archive 6 Archive 7 Archive 8 Archive 9 Archive 10 Archive 11 Archive 12 Archive 13 Archive 14 Archive 15 Archive 16 Archive 17 Archive 18

This page has archives. Sections older than 182 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III when more than 3 sections are present.

Semi-protected edit request on 20 October 2022

This edit request to Nikola Tesla has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Change "Serbian" or "American" to "Croatian" 2A05:4F44:C10:3D00:803D:8D49:5AF4:3ACB (talk) 13:02, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

 Not done: Please see frequent discussions in the past. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:14, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

Thread moved here from Talk:Nikola Tesla per Talk page banner and 16 June 2015 RfC consensus.--Chetvorno 19:06, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

Really unsure why this is such a problem.

Tesla is Croatian-American. He was not born in Serbia, or anything that would be considered Serbia. He did not speak Serbian, his official documents state he is from Croatia. He has identified hiimself as Croatian-American.

It's ridiculous that this is an ongoing issue. 151.111.138.53 (talk) 21:19, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

I can explain. Wiki page lists Tesla as "Serbian-American" because the most secondary sources put emphasis on Tesla's ethnicity. Misplaced Pages is just summarizing secondary sources. This in no way negates that Tesla is also "Croatian-American" when you put emphasis on nationality/place of birth. You can see it on Einstein's Wiki page where the emphasis wasn't put on his ethnicity. He's listed as "German-born". The problem isn't with one or the other qualification, but with some people here on talk page, which use one qualification to negate the other. I don't think you should be bothered by this summary that was done on Misplaced Pages. Tesla's Croatian origins are still well known. You know...some people here even went so far to write that Tesla had "no connections to Croatia" or to claim that Tesla didn't know where he was born when he stated that he was "born in Croatia". When someone says that Tesla was "Serbian-American" , thus not "Croatian-American" is just trying to use ethnicity-based qualification for their agenda. Both are correct and one can't negate the other. Of course that in Serbian people would put more emphasis of ethnicity, and in Croatia to Tesla's place of birth/homeland. I personally don't see why both qualifications wouldn't be stated on the wiki page, as both are supported by sources. The best example is wiki for Rade Šerbedžija. He's listed as Croatian and Serbian actor. Bilseric (talk) 20:10, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

In categorization, ethnicity is mentioned first and then nationality. Serbian-American, in which Serbian would be his ethnicity/origin and American being his nationality/place of residency for the majority of Tesla's life. Croatian was not his ethnicity, or nationality as you mentioned it to be, as Croatian was part of Austria-Hungary at that time. Mentioning Austria-Hungary as his nationality could be fitting, but when an individual has more than one nationality it is important to look at other factors. For this case, Tesla lived in the US for the majority of his life and was his place of death. It was also the place of origin to all his inventions. I think it's quite logical why "American" is mentioned as his nationality, hence also why most sources mention him as Serbian-American. --Azor (talk). 20:16, 10 September 2023 (UTC)

Citizenship in 19th century Austrian Empire was complex topic even back in those days. The legislation and the practice have changed multiple times during the 2nd part of the 19th century. There are numerous cases of disputes with the institutions that individuals had to determine their citizenship . What worked in the practice is affiliation to the local municipality. After 1880 a new law put in order the presumption of "Hungarian-Croatian" citizenship of all born in the lands of "hungarian crown". There are ambiguities on how that citizenship was called, but the affiliation certainly went towards "Croatia-Slavonia", as the local governemt was issuing documents such as "domovnica" or "certificate of nationality" and passport. It can be seen on Tesla's passport that it was issued by the "Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia". For Tesla at least, it can be seen who had issued his passport and where his affiliation went. As I said Misplaced Pages summerizes sources and indeed there are sources naming Tesla as Croatian scientist. This is factually correct and in no opposition to name him as American, or Serbian-American or even Croatian-American as some here on Misplaced Pages are trying to represent. Why one of those classifications was chosen of Misplaced Pages , I explained earlier. I think that most literature that are listing Tesla as "Croatian" scientist are doing so because Nikola Tesla was born in the Croatian part of the Austrian Empire, which was pretty diverse, so they "summerize". Well, I say Croatia because it's a direct quote from Tesla. Of course we wasn't born in the "Republic of Croatia" which is the full name today. However, Croatian constitution today is stating that today's Croatia derives from the former Kingdom of Dalmatia-Croatia-Slavonia. It's one and the same entity, whether independent or not is irrelevant. The naming had changed throught years. The most common name is just Croatia. That's way Tesla had himself said "I was born in Croatia" , although at that time Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia. Bilseric (talk) 19:28, 12 September 2023 (UTC)

This matter has been an ongoing topic for years and arguments about Croatia's political independence in details does not make any difference. Croatia was never an independent nation during his lifetime and can therefore not be classified as his nationality. Nationality is chosen by the individual's legal citizenship. He held Austro-Hungarian and American citizenship, respectively. As for Tesla's wording, he never explicitly said "I was born in Croatia", but he did mention him being "equally proud of his Serb origin and Croat homeland" in a quote during the time of Yugoslavia. However, I don't see how that is him stating his opinion on the matter. Him choosing to move to the US at a young age, and live there until his death, seems rather convincing on which country he considered his nationality. --Azor (talk). 19:40, 15 September 2023 (UTC)

The citizenship in Austian Empire, and later in Austro-Hungary was set by a number of legislature acts from 1848 until 1880. Austro-Hungary was an union of two sovereign states, there was no Austro-Hungarian citizenship. Both Austrian and Hungarian citizenships had existed. This was defined by the Austrian-Hungarian settlement. In the similar way Croatian-Hungarian settlement defined political status of Croatia (Croatia-Slavonia) within the land of Hungarian crown. From that point on, legislature was common "Hungarian-Croatian", executive branches were separated. This is why Tesla's passport was issued by the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Although the legislature was common, "Hungarian-Croatian" citizenship wasn't solely determinative. The distinction was put on the 2 political entities. This is directly determined by the Croatian-Hungarian settlement which had defined citizens of Croatia-Slavonia as a separate political nation. Nikola Tesla being one of the most notable individuals of that nation. For instance the naming used in the legislature act from 1871 was "Croatian-Slavonian citizenship".

Tesla had indeed said that he was born in Croatia in his tribute to king Alexander. Tesla's letter was published in New York Times and you can easily see it in their archive. The direct quote is I was born in Croatia. He wrote the letter himself on English and sent it to New York Times. You may argue that he didn't know where he was born, or that he wasn't telling the truth, however historical facts, I just mentioned, would disprove you. There are a number of legislature acts defining the political status of Croatia-Slavonia at that time.

There's no doubt that Tesla had high regards on to his American citizenship. I don't think anyone here is disputing that. Well, actually it's funny what is actually being disputed here, and by whom. I'm not familiar with any relevant party disputing Tesla's ethnicity. I would understand that Serbs would have a problem with it as they claim that Tesla was a Serb (and indeed he was), however what is funny here, Tesla's nationality and the place of birth can only be in dispute between states that were formerly a part of the Austro-Hungary. I'm not seeing Austria or Hungary, claiming Tesla "belongs" to them. What difference it makes for the Serbian side when Tesla can't be "Serbian" by nationality and he can't be born in Serbia. What motivation do Serbian side has to have him "belong" to either of the other sides...namely Austrian, Hungarian or any other , rather than Croatian, apart from animosity towards Croatia? Even the media often portraits this as a dispute between "Croatia and Serbia". This is not the case at all, nothing is in dispute between Croatia and Serbia. Ethnicity is not in dispute at all. On the other hand Serbia has nothing to do with Tesla's nationality or the place of birth, and those aren't disputed by Austria or Hungary and Croatia. And I'm quite literal here when saying "Serbia", because it does happen that Serbian officials are protesting when Tesla is portrayed as a Croatian scientist. Most lately, when Tesla was portrayed on Croatian euro coins. Bilseric (talk) 21:51, 16 September 2023 (UTC)

This is, yet again, details from your behalf. We could go on and on and discuss about the degree of autonomy the regions within the Empire developed later in his life, as if that is gonna make any relevant difference. Even then, his nationality wouldn't be described as "Croatian" but rather "Croatia-Slavonian". In terms of nationality - Serbia has no relevancy, but American is, without a doubt, the best suited categorization. As for the the general Serb view on the categorization of Tesla, I fully understand the upset. What motivation does Croats have to claim Tesla? He was born in lands that is today Croatia yes, but throughout history you did not seem that motivated to claim the other Serbs living in todays Croatia. A Serb is "Croatian" when he becomes famous, but an inferior individual who should be sent to concentration camps when he is the average citizen. Croat editors has also, throughout many years, argued against his Serb ethnicity on Misplaced Pages as well. The current categorization of his ethnicity and nationality (Serbian-American) is most likely never gonna change, despite any detail-arguing from the Croat editors. That's all. --Azor (talk). 11:26, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

I was actually using this secondary source . It lists many legislature acts, as primary sources. The wiki page doesn't need to change. It's perfectly correct. What I'm just pointing out, is that "Croatian scientist", is as well perfectly correct and equal. Some people think that putting "Serbian-American" on Wiki page somehow negates "Croatian-American". I'm well familiar with all the "reasons" from Serbian side why Tesla isn't Croatian, including the one you just repeated, but I ask again, what difference does it make for Serbs to "have him either way", when his nationality isn't Serbian? If he himself said that he was born in Croatia. If you can see that his passport was issued by the "Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia". If his highschool degree says his mother language is "Croatian". It's just silly that some people come to the discussion here on[REDACTED] with the claims that "Tesla had nothing to do with Croatia", and somehow they don't neglect to mention that they are not from "this area" , like somehow it makes their opinion more credible than Tesla's statement that he was born in Croatia. It's even more ridiculous when seeing that Serbia as a country is protesting this historical facts. Bilseric (talk) 17:55, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

I am noticing how you are cherry picking sources. You talk about his educational papers, more explicitly his "Croatian mother tongue" from his primary education paper. Yet, you don't even dare to mention his educational papers from his time in university of Graz, which explicitly mentions his nationality to be Serbian. Let me also remind you that these university papers were issued during the time of Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.

I can also see that you have spent a ridiculous amount of time continuously arguing in the discussion regarding the categorization of Tesla. In 2017, you were arguing about the same alleged quote from Tesla about where he was born, just the same way you are doing now. So no, I don't believe you a second when you say "the article is perfectly correct and I'm just pointing out". For God's sake, drop the stick. --Azor (talk). 19:57, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

I've just posted a lengthy source that deals explicitly with the question of nationality in Croatia and Slavonia from 1849-1880. This is the secondary source and it mentions not a single word about Serbian nationality. Bilseric (talk) 20:25, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

His academic paper is a primary source and does indeed show Serbe Nationalität (i.e. Serbian nationality). --Azor (talk). 21:33, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

What is certain here is that he wasn't Serbian by nationality. This question is not even in dispute. What's in dispute, is whether he was Austrain, Hungarian or Croatian by nationality, since the question of nationality wasn't fully defined until 1880. The source I posted, although in Croatian, is the best one yet, that was posted here on the topic of nationality in Austro-Hungary in the 19th century. I can't say exactly why the mentioned document says "Serbian" under nationality, but there are no doubts that Serbian nationality wasn't defined in the legislature acts in Austro-Hungary. It would be good to find secondary source that would explain this document. Without that, there's not much we can do with it on Misplaced Pages. I'm just speculating here (not that it matters for Wiki discussion) , but one of the possible explanations would be that , being the 19th century, and nationality not being fully defined as we understand it today, people often were naming their ethnicity as nationality. For certain, people living in Croatian part of the Empire weren't considering themselves to be Austrians, although the act from 1849 was defining only Austrian citizenship for all citizens of Austrain Empire. This will soon change when reality reaches the legislature ,but even before that, when the question of citizenship wasn't defined as such at all in the legislature, people of Austrain Empire weren't considering themselves as one nation. This will soon be evident through Austro-Hungrian settlement and Croatian-Hungarian settlement, which had defined separate political nations and is also visible from the source I posted, which is widely speaking of, sometimes confusing way, of determining someone's nationality in Austro-Hungary from 1849-1880. I think this is the most plausible explanation. To repeat, what is evident from the source , the question of nationality was in the process of being defined in the 19th century, thus it's hard to go by legislature which was changing during that period. What is certain is this quote from the source, "After 1880 a new law put in order the presumption of "Hungarian-Croatian" citizenship for all born in the lands of "hungarian crown"". Also, what is notable from the source is that this, legislature act wasn't aligned with reality on the ground , so much so that subsequent legislature acts are separating Croatians from Hungarians. Some acts are using "Croatian-Slavonian" terminology. Some are using "sons of the homeland", because Croatians couldn't be elected to the Hungarian Parliament for example. Tesla couldn't have been elected to the Hungarian Parliament for instance. He could have only be elected to the Croatian Parliament. Not to prolong...I gave you my speculations on your primary source, I don't know whether you would like it or not, but there's certainly much to digest from the source I posted, but not the fact that Serbian citizenship was non-existent in the 19th century Austro-Hungary. And again, what I tried to summerize, although it's a lengthy post, is that "Croatian scientist" is equally correct as "Serbian scientist" or "American scientist". There's no point to be "unsatisfied" because Wiki page chose one over the other, Misplaced Pages is just summarizing sources. Bilseric (talk) 12:47, 23 September 2023 (UTC)

As per MOS:NATIONALITY If a subject migrate from from a country to another country and became the citizen of the that country where he was made notable of his activities - we would put their citizenship of the country they migrated to. So Tesla is an American in the lead section. Cassiopeia talk 22:19, 15 December 2023 (UTC)

MOS:NATIONALITY has caveats: "unless relevant to the subject's notability" Tesla inventor history includes a transition form Europe to America, and "editors should consider how reliable sources refer to the subject" most reliable sources refer to him as "Serbian-American". Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 14:54, 16 December 2023 (UTC)

Indeed. The only problem with this article is that some people trying to negate that Tesla being a Croatian Scientist is equally correct. Misplaced Pages choosing one formulation for the article doesn't in any way negate other formulations that are equally correct. Misplaced Pages just summarizes sources , and indeed the sources are mentioning Tesla's ethnicity. Bilseric (talk) 13:27, 20 December 2023 (UTC)

No they don't. Most refer to him as "American". It should be in the lead page just American per MOS:NATIONALITY, and make it more neutral. Andrew012p (talk) 18:03, 25 December 2023 (UTC)

It would be, but it seems to me that some editors here emphasise Tesla's ethnicity to be more than it is. Bilseric (talk) 20:50, 25 December 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 5 December 2023

This edit request to Nikola Tesla has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Change Nikola Teslas nationality to Croatian-Serbian-American. Nikola Tesla repeatedly stated his love for his, quote “hrvatskoj domovini i srpskom rodu", which in translation means “Croatian homeland and Serbian roots”

https://faktograf.hr/2022/02/17/je-li-nikola-tesla-bio-srbin-ili-hrvat/ 85.226.244.61 (talk) 23:13, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: Please see frequent discussions in the past. Vanjagenije (talk) 00:02, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 January 2024

This edit request to Nikola Tesla has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

It should be stated that Tesla was Croatian-Serbian and American.

Tesla was born and raised in Present day Croatia and had Croatian citizenship in the Kingdom of Croatia within the Austrian Empire. All of Tesla's documents and educational certificates were written in Croatian and notarized by the Kingdom of Croatia. Tesla visited Serbia for 1 whole day his entire life.

Tesla stated he was equally proud of his Croatian homeland and his Serbian ethnicity thus making him Croatian by nationality and Serbian by ethnicity. 2607:FEA8:4EA1:3A00:5E2D:CF19:F1EB:8ACF (talk) 02:30, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: This has been discussed extensively in the past; see the various discussions in this page's archives. SkyWarrior 02:37, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Ridiculous. So someone who was born, raised, educated in Croatia and in Croatian language and says he was proud of his Croatian homeland doesnt get to be labelled Croatian. So being Serbian simply by being of Orthodox faith and visiting Serbia for 1 day. What kind of nonsense is this. Direct me please to the archive so I can read the misinformation. 2607:FEA8:4EA1:3A00:5E2D:CF19:F1EB:8ACF (talk) 02:42, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

The 15 archives are listed at the top of the page. The current wording was established by an RfC 8 June 2014 and has stood against many efforts to change it, and been confirmed by RfC 12 December 2018 and further supported in the discussion of RfC 11 July 2020. --Chetvorno 17:48, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

@Chetvorno hmm, now that you mention the RFCs, in the 2014 one we had a pretty clear consensus to have a mention of Croatia or the Military Frontier for the birthplace, but this was since removed from the infobox, and the image caption has a weird phrasing in the caption that implies the village is only now in Croatia which isn't quite right. I think there's an influx of complaints not just because these readers have an axe to grind, but because we've also had subtle changes made that trigger them. --Joy (talk) 12:01, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

BTW, the 2014 RFC is littered with tendentious text from an editor who has long since gotten indefinitely blocked for abuse. I'm not sure if there's a good way to address that, as WP:DENY doesn't mention talk pages... --Joy (talk) 12:06, 22 February 2024 (UTC)

If I'm looking at the correct RfC, I'm seeing that the consensus is "Smiljan, Austrian Empire (modern-day Croatia)", the advice is against mentioning Military Frontier in the lead. Yes, it seems that , at present, the infobox is missing (preset day Croatia) as it is stated in the text. Bilseric (talk) 20:26, 24 February 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for the confirmation, amended now. --Joy (talk) 22:38, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

Provide truthful info

Nikola Tesla is croatian, and he does not have anything to do with Serbia or the USA as ethnicity. He was born in Smiljan, a Croatian town. He studied in Graz and Karlovac, therefore not having connections with Serbia or the USA. Or say that he is croatian-serbian if you dont want to give up misinformation but he is not in any way american. Reepdrake (talk) 12:59, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages is aggregating the secondary sources, and they do indeed mention that Tesla was Serbian by ethnicity. This in no way should contradict that he was also Croatian by "nationality". Well, it would be imprecise to say "nationality" as the 19th century legislation had not defined nationality as we know it today. He was also naturalized American citizen thus this has to be mentioned. Bilseric (talk) 20:36, 24 February 2024 (UTC)

So if i go to live in Finland does that make me finnish? I agree on the fact that he was a citizen of the USA but him just living in the USA does not make him in any way American. Reepdrake (talk) 21:12, 24 March 2024 (UTC)

The definition of being American is being a citizen of America. You are confusing it with being of American descent (eg: American Indian, or possibly European or African or other descent but your family has been in America for a few generations). Citizenship and descent can be quite different things.  Stepho  talk  00:13, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Yes, but he wasn't just living in USA, he was a naturalized citizen from 1891. I don't think that's in dispute by anyone. Also, the word "descent" isn't really applicable here. It's usually describing someone's ancestry lineage. Bilseric (talk) 18:58, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Nationality

...was a Serbian-American inventor??

Imagine that British own a big territory and one of the territories are today's France. Imagine that territory is divide on three parts and speaks French language and have French schools and even British acknowledge that territories.

Now imagine that you are born in that territory and your father and mother are born in that territory too. Your father tells you that you have Serbian roots. Now you walk through the city and tell everyone that you are a Serb. But your born papers says otherwise. Does it make you a Serb because you are telling people that you are a Serb or your papers do?

Now take a look at Nikola Tesla story: In 1856, Croatia was part of Austro-Hungarian empire as autonomous Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. Even Nikola Tesla passport confirmed that.

Nikola Tesla parents were born also on today's Croatian territory. Nikola Tesla spoke Croatian and went to Croatian schools

Nikola Tesla was only one day in his life in Serbia. So if I'm born in Australia and my grand grandfather was from Serbia, am I a Serb then?

If Croatia didn't existed on that time, how did Croatian language and Croatian schools existed? Even Nikola Tesla said that Croatia is his homeland.

Please remove Cyrillic spelling of his name and remove Serbian-American inventor. He can be only Croatian-American inventor, nothing else.

Not mentioning his Croatian descent before the word inventor is offensive. If you have any proof/papers that he is Serbian, I'll apologies. Endy Angello (talk) 09:44, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

1. Uwe Schichler,Josef W. Wohinz. https://openlib.tugraz.at/download.php?id=5fbe2f740ec5f&location=browse]" p. 23.