The questions were asked, "was Tesla really a quack or have we forgotten some very powerful ideas? Have his theories been tested to scientific standards?"
First of all, Tesla was not a "quack." And yes, society has forgotten the promise held in particular by Tesla's "World Wireless System."
Rigorous scientific investigations into his theories have been performed numerous times over the years since his death in 1943. They show the devices and methods he proposed and placed his signature to actually do work.
To clarify a few items, one cannot, "easily stand in the middle of [an] arc storm and not feel a thing." Also, the transmission of electrical energy by means of Schumann Cavity resonance, i.e., energy transmission by means of a concentric spherical shell waveguide is, unto itself, totally unworkable.
On the other hand, the Earth resonance technique actually developed by Tesla may be possible, a feasibility study using a sufficiently powerful and properly tuned Tesla coil earth-resonance transmitter being called for.
