SS Connection

Historical Figures

Originally, the idea of wireless communication or wireless telegraphy was mathematically proven by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864. Maxwell proved that electromagnetic waves could move around in free space. With Maxwell's new concept of electromagnetic waves, a new debate in the scientific community appeared. The debate included prestigious names like the one and only Nikola Tesla, Edward Hughes, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, and William Crookes. Years later, Maxwell theory of elctromagnetism would be proven by German physist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz with his experiments. Thus, the concept of the radio spectrum was born. Maxwell's and Hertz's work would later inspire a wireless communication euphoria all around the world. It appeared that multiple scientists would compete with one another to see who could get to build a wireless communication system that was stable and functional in any situation first. As aresult, the invention of the radio is attributed to more than one person.

Although not quite a radio-type of system, Thomas Edison, inspired by the work of David E. Hughes and his carbon microphone, developed a "wireless communication system" that would work between ships and would run through water. Later on, The Marconi Company would buy Edison's new invention. Edison and Marconi were not the only ones involved and interested in wireless technology. In fact, Oliver Lodge and Alexander Muirhead, shortly after Hertz death, gave a demonstration of Hertz's work. During the demonstration, a signal from another close-by laboratory was sent and received in another room. The exchange of signals was considered groundbreaking and successful now that it prove the scientific concept of wireless communications.

The Indian Bengali physicist Jagadish Chandra Bose was also part of the radio movement. In November 1894, Bose gave a public demonstration at the Town Hall of Kolkata. During his demonstration, Bose was able of ringing a bell from a distance by igniting gun powder. By the bell ringing at a distance, Bose prove the concept of sound waves and their ability to travel. Shortly after Bose, roughly on the same year, a Russian researcher named Alexander Stepanovich Popov followed Hertz work. Popov is credited with the creation of the first radio receiver and lightning detector.

While most scientists were looking into wireless communication as another scientific discovery, others like Guglielmo Marconi saw the potential of creating a telegraph system for yet-to -be born industries or as an emergency line. Marconi was the first person to develop a fully functional and comercially available portable transmitters and receiver systems that would send signals much farther than previous versions of similar inventions. Also, Marconi's radio system is credited with saving over 700 lives from the Titanic disaster,which prove that radio was already making an impact on society eventhough it was still in its infancy.

Following some other inventors' work, Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter worked on the first version of the phone. At the time, the phone-prototype was not really called cellular phone; it was called photo phone. In reality, for the time, he photo-phone was not really useful or popular for that manner. Literally, the photo phone was an invention out of its time. The reason why photo-phones were so important in history was because it laid the foundation for cellular phones we use today.

At the beginning, radio used to be used mainly out in open sea by ships wanting to communicate with one another. Slowly but surely, the radio evolved into much more than a simple invention. Now, and as seen on the 20th century, the radio revolutionized society. Because of the radio, people were able of listening to the news and other source of entertainment. Not only did radio help communicate the people, but it also serve as a gateway for rescue in times of need like in the Titanic catastrophe.

Since radio was the first form of "wireless communication," it is of supreme importance for my project. As stated in my research paper, my project is a type of radio. Both the radio and my project have a receiver and an emitter that tranfers some signals wirelessly.

In conclusion, the radio was an invention that changed the world. Also, it did not only changed the world positively, but it also merged people from all around the world in the name of scientific progress. Aside from being one of the most impressive technologies of human history, the radio has left a profound mark in our way of communicating to the world.