What is the name of this American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, explorer, and environmental activist, who was one of the historical figures encountered in the book The Smithsonian Institution?
The Smithsonian Institution (novel) Gore Vidal's 1998 novel The Smithsonian Institution is a fictional account of the adventures of "T." as he helps a group of scientists in the basement of the Smithsonian create the neutron bomb, and encounters historical figures such as President Abraham Lincoln, Charles Lindbergh, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mrs. Grover Cleveland.
Nikola Tesla in popular culture Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) is portrayed in multiple 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.