History of Radio - Who invented the Radio

Who invented the radio?

The credit of inventing the radio goes to a number of researchers. The names of Guglielmo Marconi, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Popov, Sir Oliver Lodge, Reginald Fessenden, Heinrich Hertz, Amos Dolbear, Mahlon Loomis, Nathan Stubblefield and James Clerk Maxwell can be included.

Guglielmo Marconi

He was an Italian inventor who demonstrated the practicability of radio communication. His first radio signal was sent and received in 1895. In 1899, the first wireless signal was sent across the English Channel. In 1902, the letter 'S' was telegraphed from England to Newfoundland. This was the first triumphant transatlantic radiotelegraph.

Nikola Tesla

In 1892, he designed the fundamental design for radio. Later, in 1898, a radio controlled robot-boat was patented. This boat was controlled by radio waves and shown in the Electrical Exhibition in Madison Square Garden. This boat had an antenna that transmitted the radio waves arriving from the command post. A radio sensitive device called coherer received these radio waves. This device transmitted these waves to mechanical movements of the propellers on the boat.

Alexander Popov

He constructed his first radio receiver containing a 'coherer' in 1894. This was then modified as a lightning detector and demonstrated before the Russian Physical and Chemical Society on May 7, 1895. This day is remembered by the Russian Federation as "Radio Day". It was in March 1896, that transmission of radio waves was done across disparate campus buildings in St. Petersburg. A radio station was built on Hogland island to facilitate two-way communication by wireless telegraphy between the Russian naval base and the crew of the battleship General-Admiral Apraksin. This was done as per Popov's guidance in 1900.

Sir Oliver Lodge

He designed a device called a 'coherer' upto perfection. This was a radio-wave detector and the basis of the early radiotelegraph receiver. He was showered with international recognition as he became the first human to transmit a radio signal.

Reginald Fessenden

He was a Canadian inventor reputed for his achievements in early radio. The first audio transmission by radio in 1900, the first two-way transatlantic radio transmission in 1906 and the first radio broadcast of entertainment and music in 1906 were his three significant milestones. Fessenden concluded that he could devise a better system than the spark-gap transmitter and coherer-receiver combination that had been put forth by Lodge and Marconi.

Heinrich Hertz

He was a German physicist and mechanician. In 1888, he became the first person to prove the presence of electromagnetic waves by constructing a system to create and detect UHF radio waves. His name was used for radio frequencies. The hertz designation was an official part of the international metric system in 1933.

Amos Dolbear

He was a professor at Tufts University and received a U.S. patent for a wireless telegraph in March, 1882.

Mahlon Loomis

He is called as the "First Wireless Telegrapher". In 1868, he demonstrated a wireless communication system between two sites 14 to 18 miles apart.

Nathan Stubblefield

It is thought that Stubblefield invented the radio before Tesla or Marconi. However, his devices appear to have worked by audio frequency induction or audio frequency earth conduction rather than radio frequency radiation for radio transmission telecommunication. It is claimed that he is the inventor of wireless telephony or wireless transmission of the human voice.

James Clerk Maxwell

He predicted the existence of radio waves. It was on this basis that radio waves were discovered and Einstein's theory of relativity took off.

History of the radio

The lightning-recording antenna was invented by Aleksandr Popov in 1895. The first experimental transmission of wireless signals were carried out by Guglielmo Marconi in the same year. A patent of wireless communication was filed by Marconi in 1896. In 1899, a 42 km link was laid between two cruisers containing Ducretet-Popov devices in France. In the same year, a wireless transmission was laid through the English Channel from Wimereux to Dover by Marconi. In 1901, Marconi demonstrated the first transatlantic wireless transmission between Poldhu and St. John's by using Morse code. In 1903, Valdemar Poulsen began arc transmission to create high-frequency alternators to send radio waves. The New York Times and the London Times knew about the Russo-Japanese war due to radio in 1903. In the next year, a commercial maritime radio network was established under the control of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs in France. Then, John Fleming invented the thermionic two-electrode valve so that sound transmission was feasible. In 1905, lead sulphide could be used to detect radio-electric signals. In 1906, Reginald Fessenden designed a high-frequency alternator and transmitted human voice over the radio. In 1906, Lee de Forest made the detection, transmission and amplification of sound possible. In 1910, a broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York city could be heard on a ship that was 20 km away. 1911 to 1930 was the period of the growth of the radio. The Radio Corporation of America was founded. This was done by combining General Electic, Western Electric, AT&T and Westinghouse. It was in this era that radio broadcasting began in Australia. Battery-powered receivers having headphones and valves were seen in France. A radio telephone concert was broadcast across the Atlantic Ocean to several receivers. In this era, radio broadcasting started in Shanghai and Cuba. The first regular broadcasts took place in Belgium, Norway, Germany, Finland and Switzerland. Soon radio became prevalent throughout the globe.