A Brief History Of The Radio

This article talks about some of the scientists andof us. Mahlon Loomis created wireless telegraph.
the physics that led to the invention of the radio.Guglielmo Marconi, proved the possibility of radio
The world was never the same. The radio era wascommunication. In 1985 Marconi, transmitted and
born.received a radio signal. Using the Morse alphabet, he
It is expect that nearly every household in the Unitedsent the first wireless signal which was transmitted
States has at least one radio. The invention of theacross the English Channel and in due time, he was
radio was dependent upon two previous discoveries:able to receive the Morse letter S which began in
the electromagnet and telegraph.England and reached Newfoundland which became
The electromagnet was discovered in 1825. Thisthe beginning of transatlantic radiotelegraphy (1902).
discovery opened the doors to global communication!Wireless signals gained far reaching use as a means
Five years later, Joseph Henry successfullyof communication for rescue work when an accident
transmitted an electric current via wire which wasor disaster occurred at sea. In 1899 the United
stretched over a mile and which caused anStates Army began utilize wireless communication
electromagnet to trigger the sounding of a bell. Thus,which originated from a lightship off Fire Island. The
the electric telegraph was born. One of the mostUS Navy was about two years behind the Army in
recognizable names associated with the telegraph isutilizing wireless telegraphy.
Samuel Morse who is most notable for the series ofIn 1903, President Roosevelt (Theodore) and King
dots (brief sound) and dashes (more sustainedEdward VII communicated via this new and improving
sound) which was used to transmit messages bytechnology. The well known Robert Perry, using
alphabet code (thus known as Morse Code).radiotelegraphy, conveyed the message that he had
Telegraph became the sole means of rapid long`found the Pole`.
distance communication until 1877 and the inventionThe first AM radio entered the world of
of the telephone.telecommunication in the early 1900`s. This device
Batteries are interesting, aren`t they? Used by themade the use of somewhat weak waves possible
general consumer, they are small, but powerfullyfor communication. This was the time when the term
packed instruments which produce power used for`radio`, as we know today for radio devices, began
many cameras, alarm clocks, radios, and otherto be used.
devices. What makes this power production possible?It is believed that in December 23, 1900, professor
In the case of the telephone and it`s early design andReginald Aubrey Fessenden was the first person to
use, batteries produced the essential source ofsuccessfully transmit human voice by radio waves. By
power for the electromagnet.1915, speech was first sent across the United States
Batteries have two ends to which one is assigned abeginning in New York City and sent to San Francisco.
`+` or positive, and the other a `-` or negative. WhenSomewhat later, transmission occurred across the
a battery operated device is switched on, theAtlantic Ocean from Arlington, Virginia, to Paris at the
electrons which are produced by the batteries,Eiffel Tower.
quickly move from the negative side to the positiveIt is truly fascinating all the scientists and the physics
side of the batteries. Something was needed totheories that led to the invention of the radio.
interrupt this rapid flow of electrons or find theMarconi, Alexander Popov, Oliver Lodge, Fessenden
batteries totally expended in a brief time. In order toand many others, have all made important
accomplish this, a wire is often inserted between thecontributions to an invention that made the world so
positive and negative terminals and a `load`, such as adifferent, that most likely none of them would
radio, creating a small magnetic field in the wire. Theenvision. The radio era was born.
electromagnetic waves which are present now, haveThis article is under GNU FDL license and can be
the capability to transmit sounds (speech, music, anddistributed without any previous authorization from
so on) as well as visual images undetected by sightthe author. However the author's name and all the
through the air.URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography
There are several scientists who must be mentionedmust be kept.
as essential to the telephone as it is known to most