# The SI unit of magnetic flux density is named the tesla

Date: 1960

## The fact

In 1960 the tesla (T) was established in the International System as the unit of magnetic flux density, honouring [Nikola Tesla](/people/nikola-tesla). UNESCO’s archive description independently notes the unit. This Fact is the metrological naming, not the 1888 motor.

## Context

Naming a unit concentrates credit. It does not prove unique invention of all magnetism.

Nikola Tesla is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

## Evidence and sources

BIPM CGPM resolution listings and UNESCO’s Tesla archive page independently record the SI tesla.

Official or archival record: CGPM resolutions (SI unit tesla, 1960 lineage) (https://www.bipm.org/en/committees/cg/cgpm/resolutions; Bureau International des Poids et Mesures).

## Significance

Scientific-language path. High confidence on the 1960 naming.

A unit is not a tower. Do not back-date 1960 into 1899 Colorado.

## What is established and what is not

Established: SI unit tesla in 1960. Not established: that the unit measured Niagara’s output, or that it cancelled Wardenclyffe’s failure.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

## People

- Nikola Tesla: https://factrail.ai/people/nikola-tesla

## Drivers

- Digital Learning Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access

## Sources

- https://www.bipm.org/en/committees/cg/cgpm/resolutions
- https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/nikola-teslas-archive

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/si-tesla-unit-1960