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The death ray or '''death beam''' was a theoretical Particle Beam or Electromagnetic weapon of the 1920s through the 1930s that was claimed to have been invented independently by Nikola Tesla as well as Edwin R. Scott , and Harry Grindell Matthews , and Graichen 1, as well as others. 2 By 1957 the National Inventors Council was still issuing lists of needed military inventions that included a death ray. 3 The concept was never put into action, but fueled science fiction stories, and led to the science fiction concept of the hand held Ray Gun used by fictional heroes such as Flash Gordon . ARCHIMEDES According to Mythology , the concept of the "burning mirror" or ''death ray'' began with Archimedes who created such a mirror with an adjustable focal length to track and set fire to the Roman fleet as it invaded Syracuse . Historians, however, acknowledge that the earliest accounts of the battle did not mention a "burning mirror" and that only Archimedes' ingenuity combined with a way to hurl fire were relevant to the victory. A Byzantine writer hundreds of years later is suggested to have imagined this 2200-year-old death ray, which is attributed to Archimedes. Myth Busters television program attempted to replicate this idea, but found it highly impractical, partly due to the possibility of the power source (the sun) being unsable at night or on a cloudy day. EDWIN R. SCOTT Edwin R. Scott an inventor from San Francisco claimed he was the first to develop a death ray that would destroy human life and bring down planes at a distance. He was born in Detroit , and he claimed he worked for nine years as a student and protegé of Charles P. Steinmetz . 4 HARRY GRINDELL-MATTHEWS Harry Grindell-Matthews tried to sell what he purported to be a death ray to the British Air Ministry in 1924. He was never able to show a functioning model or demonstrate it to the military. 5 NIKOLA TESLA Nikola Tesla claimed to have invented a death ray using what he termed Teleforce in the 1930's and continuing the claims up until his death. 6 REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINK
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