Revisiting the History of Wireless Radio: Who Really Invented It?

[Aquafire]

Seems like a pretty basic question..

Most will say Marconi...

But is that really correct ?

Aquafire

 

[russ_watters]

Could you be more specific about what invention you are talking about? Here are a number of radio related discoveries and inventions: http://inventors.about.com/od/rstartinventions/a/radio.htm

 

[Danger]

There's a radio that isn't wireless?
Anyhow, I can't cite any sources, but I've read several times that Marconi wasn't the first. My memory is failing me right now. I'll try to dig up some history about it.

 

[Aquafire]

Good point Russ.

I beg some historical ignorance on the topic, particularly since, (in the light of your link) it appears to have been a far more crowded field than I had first assumed.

For my money, I would have said Tesla, gvien that (according to your link)...

" Nikola Tesla is now credited with being the first person to patent radio technology; the Supreme Court overturned Marconi's patent in 1943 in favor of Tesla."

But why do so many still credit Marconi as the "father of Wireless radio" ?

 

[Danger]

But why do so many still credit Marconi as the "father of Wireless radio" ?

For the same reason that they think that Newton 'invented' gravity, or that Euclid 'invented' geometry... people are stupid.

 

[Aquafire]

For the same reason that they think that Newton 'invented' gravity, or that Euclid 'invented' geometry... people are stupid.

I am so glad I didn't suggest that either Marconi or Tesla invented "Radio~Waves" :tongue:

Aquafire

 

[Danger]

:rofl:...

 

[Winzer]

Isn't there still a lot of Tesla's work out there that hasn't been fully explored? Or is it all figured out?

 

[waht]

I would say the father of radio was Edwin Armstrong. He invented the concept of heterodyne mixing process, during WWI. That is the cornerstone of modern wireless technology. Armstrong also invented FM modulation and proved it had a way lower noise than AM. These advancements kick started the first wireless revolution.

 

[russ_watters]

I am so glad I didn't suggest that either Marconi or Tesla invented "Radio~Waves" :tongue:

Aquafire

That's why I used the word "discover" in my post. I wasn't sure if you meant that. In any case, Maxwell predicted their existence and Herz discovered them.

 

[russ_watters]

Isn't there still a lot of Tesla's work out there that hasn't been fully explored? Or is it all figured out?

Tesla is probably where the idea/stereotype of the mad scientist comes from. He was a great scientist, but a little nuts. Though not everything he did/tried to do is completely clear, he did patent ideas that worked. That in itself is a good enough reason to reject conspiracy theories about other potential bizarre inventions of his: if he invented such things, he would have patented them.

It is also important to remember that he died more than 70 years ago. The bleeding edge of technology today is far beyond anything he was working on.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Good point Russ.

I beg some historical ignorance on the topic, particularly since, (in the light of your link) it appears to have been a far more crowded field than I had first assumed.

For my money, I would have said Tesla, gvien that (according to your link)...

" Nikola Tesla is now credited with being the first person to patent radio technology; the Supreme Court overturned Marconi's patent in 1943 in favor of Tesla."

But why do so many still credit Marconi as the "father of Wireless radio" ?

"The first person to patent radio technology" obfuscates the fact that Tesla never actually patented a radio. Tesla never invented or demonstrated a radio in the form Marconi did. He sued Marconi because different elements that went into his radio had already been patented by Tesla, but they were patented in connection with other inventions like remote control of motors and not the transmission and reception of sound via radio waves like Marconi's invention. Tesla claimed he had thought of the radio but not bothered to patent his ideas together in that form as such. This, knowing Tesla, was probably true, but since he neglected to patent and demonstrate it, I don't think there's any injustice in crediting Marconi as the inventor.

 

[Danger]

In my opinion, the 'inventor' is the guy who thinks it up first, in a useable form. That gets really tricky as far as differentiation goes. It's sort of like asking if Robert Jarvik really 'invented' the artificial heart, since real hearts and mechanical pumps and electronics already existed. Conversely, I can say that I 'invented' a Mach 8 VTOL fighter plane for my SF novel. I put a few years of thought into it to make it as realistic as possible, but there probably aren't enough aeronautical engineers on the planet to make the damned thing fly.

 

[Integral]

That's why I used the word "discover" in my post. I wasn't sure if you meant that. In any case, Maxwell predicted their existence and Herz discovered them.

It's about time someone mentioned Maxwell, I would quibble over the word "discover" for Hertz. He generated, and detected them. He knew exactly what he was looking for, thanks to Maxwell, the problem was to generate and detect.

Is it a discovery when you know something is there, you just have to find it? If Maxwell had not made the prediction, Hertz would not have been looking.

It is clear the modern radio communications have been developed with contributions from many brilliant people. Unfortunately, for all of his accomplishments, Tesla did little for radio communications. We owe our power grid to his work so he will always rank high on the list of genius. He did not do everything, and not everything he did do ranks as a significant contribution. In this day in age there is more urban myth in his legend then fact.

 

[rewebster]

Everyone thinks of 'inventor of radio' and they immediately think of voice and music coming out of a box/'thing'.

I think radio invention was to Tesla as he was the first to transmit a varied 'radio' wave signal, AND a device to receive and interpret the varied 'radio' wave signal. His was a remote control device and Marconi used the varied signal to activate a speaker--but the core idea of transmitting and receiving the varied signal was in Tesla's device. An analogy would be like the guy who invented color TV (Marconi) is given credit for inventing the first TV (Tesla).

 

[zoobyshoe]

In my opinion, the 'inventor' is the guy who thinks it up first, in a useable form. That gets really tricky as far as differentiation goes. It's sort of like asking if Robert Jarvik really 'invented' the artificial heart, since real hearts and mechanical pumps and electronics already existed. Conversely, I can say that I 'invented' a Mach 8 VTOL fighter plane for my SF novel. I put a few years of thought into it to make it as realistic as possible, but there probably aren't enough aeronautical engineers on the planet to make the damned thing fly.

It's even more tricky than this since it's extremely possible that someone invented the radio prior to Tesla, and never bothered to write it down or record the fact in any way. The same could be true for any invention. We can't know. Therefore, in my mind, asking who invented a particular thing has to be qualified to mean: "Who is credited as the first person to invent ..." I think anyone who we believe has invented a thing from scratch with no knowledge of prior success with the same invention, can be regarded as "The Inventor Of..." Each has really accomplished the same thing.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Everyone thinks of 'inventor of radio' and they immediately think of voice and music coming out of a box/'thing'.

I think radio invention was to Tesla as he was the first to transmit a varied 'radio' wave signal, AND a device to receive and interpret the varied 'radio' wave signal. His was a remote control device and Marconi used the varied signal to activate a speaker--but the core idea of transmitting and receiving the varied signal was in Tesla's device. An analogy would be like the guy who invented color TV (Marconi) is given credit for inventing the first TV (Tesla).

It's really a matter of how the question is asked. When we say "the radio" we do, indeed, mean the well known "voice and music coming out of a box/thing," and aren't talking about the remote control we're familiar with from kid's toy cars and aeroplanes. Tesla incontrovertibly demonstrated, and patented, the latter while completely neglecting to even record the fact that he realized the former was also possible with this core technology.

Also: a patent isn't about historical credit. It's, above any other consideration, a legal document designed to direct traffic in the matter of who has the right to financial profit from an idea. Tesla won the patent battle a few months after his death when the whole issue was really moot.

 

[rewebster]

"wireless radio" could be just two adjectives with a noun implied. It's a generic phrase even as "wireless"

wireless radio controlled vehicle

wireless radio waves


and in this webpage's subtitle:

http://www.sss-mag.com/rhistory.html



'wireless radio' could mean a battery operated transistor radio (no wires plugged into the wall)

Who invented 'the' radio?-----

http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_whoradio.html

 

[axeathonic]

No no no...

I don't remember Marconi inventing t.v., i just read out of a book that Marconi created the wireless telegraph. Besides, when the first t.v. was invented, he was already dead!

 

[russ_watters]

Who said anything about TV?

 

[axeathonic]

oops

sorry, wrong disscousion.

 

[pinestone]

"The history of radio shows that the spark gap transmitter was the product of many people, often working in competition. In 1862 James Clerk Maxwell predicted the propagation of electromagnetic waves through a vacuum, and in 1888 physicist Heinrich Hertz was the first to verify Maxwell's predictions.

Hertz used a tuned spark gap transmitter and a tuned spark gap detector (consisting of a loop of wire connected to a small spark gap) located a few meters away. In a series of UHF experiments, Hertz verified that electromagnetic waves were being produced by the transmitter. When the transmitter sparked, small sparks also appeared across the receiver's spark gap, which could be seen under a microscope". -Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark-gap_transmitter

So, I think the credit should be given to Hertz for being the first person to transmit and receive signals at a distance without wires. Tesla's system utilized a resonant spark system, which he revealed to the world in 1892- 4 years later.

http://www.teslasociety.com/radio.htm

 

[axeathonic]

I read out of abook 2 days ago that Marconi made the radio wireless, someone else made the radio transmit better... umm...! Reginald Aubrey Fessenden made history on 1906, Christmas eve, by sending music through the radio transmit. He later improved it more.

 

[axeathonic]

when did marconi invent a color tv? he was dead!

 

[axeathonic]

this is weird! i keep sending a post to a different discotion!

 

[nuby]

Tesla is probably where the idea/stereotype of the mad scientist comes from. He was a great scientist, but a little nuts. Though not everything he did/tried to do is completely clear, he did patent ideas that worked. That in itself is a good enough reason to reject conspiracy theories about other potential bizarre inventions of his: if he invented such things, he would have patented them.

It is also important to remember that he died more than 70 years ago. The bleeding edge of technology today is far beyond anything he was working on.

Was Nikola Tesla nuts? He came up with lots of useful concepts, and ideas.. Some were a little far-fetched back then (but some of his then "crazy" ideas are now being used)

... But does that mean he was nuts to you? Or did he actually have a mental problem?

 

[Phy6explorer]

There is nothing such as a wire-less radio! I think you mean nothing but the portable radios in which we tune to the radio stations of our choice.

 

[pinestone]

There is nothing such as a wire-less radio! I think you mean nothing but the portable radios in which we tune to the radio stations of our choice.

Technically, you are correct. The term 'wireless radio' is a bit redundant. The first wireless communications were made using a binary code called telegraph (Morse code). At that time, telegraph stations were connected together with wires, much like the telephones (land-lines) of today are. Telegraph was used for train scheduling and message transfer.

The 'new' wireless systems allowed the average person to receive commercial broadcasts such as music, news and comedy in rural areas around the world. It's a radical departure from code, as the waves carry complex signals utilizing a techniqe called 'modulation'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulation#Analog_modulation_methods

 

[zeitghost]

Everyone thinks of 'inventor of radio' and they immediately think of voice and music coming out of a box/'thing'.

I think radio invention was to Tesla as he was the first to transmit a varied 'radio' wave signal, AND a device to receive and interpret the varied 'radio' wave signal. His was a remote control device and Marconi used the varied signal to activate a speaker--but the core idea of transmitting and receiving the varied signal was in Tesla's device. An analogy would be like the guy who invented color TV (Marconi) is given credit for inventing the first TV (Tesla).

I don't remember Marconi inventing t.v., i just read out of a book that Marconi created the wireless telegraph. Besides, when the first t.v. was invented, he was already dead!

Died in 1937... "high definition"* TV was already being broadcast by then...

* That's 405 line "high definition" by the way... not this latest bandwidth waster.

Who said anything about TV?

See above.

HTH...

 

[zeitghost]

Then again, there was Popov, Oliver Lodge et al...

 

[Danger]

There was also my great-grandfather, a fisherman with iron dentures who had an ill-fated encounter with an electric eel... :uhh: