Marconi heard a transmission prior to transmitters invented?

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In summary, some theorists believe that Marconi wasn't the first to invent the radio, but one of the few civilian inventors to come across it. Does anyone have any background to this at all?
  • #1
BryceMaclaren
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There's this internet rumor I came across where marconi heard a transmission before transmitters were invented?

Some theorists (lets go easy on them please)

beleive that - Marconi wasn't the first to invent the radio - but one of the few civilian inventors to come across it.


Does anyone have any background to this at all?
 
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  • #2
BryceMaclaren said:
There's this internet rumor I came across where marconi heard a transmission before transmitters were invented?

Some theorists (lets go easy on them please)

beleive that - Marconi wasn't the first to invent the radio - but one of the few civilian inventors to come across it.


Does anyone have any background to this at all?
Post a valid source to back yourself up please. It should be obvious why we can't respond to "I heard an internet rumor."
 
  • #3
I don't know how anyone could have heard a transmission before transmitters were invented. Unless the source was natural, such as a lightning strike. The transmitters of Marconi's day were called spark-gap transmitters. They were not much more than man made lightning with tuned circuits. If you only consider a transmitter to be one of modern design then your rumor would be correct. However, spark-gap transmitters were real transmitters.

The single inventor of radio has always been a controversy. Although Marconi is usually credited, there were many involved in it's development.

There is also a controversy surrounding whether Marconi actually heard the first transatlantic radio transmission in 1901. Some say that the evidence is stacked against him - that the frequency used, the time of day, and distance involved would have made it nearly impossible. All we really have is his word.
 
  • #4
Wow, obviously you're all unfamiliar with the heroic role Lucy Ball played in saving our country with her fillings! :wink:

To me this is just a simple case of, "all technology comes from the military", when really it's just the military that buys the tech... and the techies! This is the same reasoning that regresses to alien pyramids, so it's natural fodder for internet or other rumors.

I can only say that while I know of some dispute over who invented the radio first, usually Tesla is the other party... not, "The Others!" :biggrin:
 
  • #5
Tesla had thought he may have received extraterrestrial signals.

In the Colorado Springs lab, Tesla observed unusual signals that he later thought may have been evidence of extraterrestrial radio wave communications coming from Venus or Mars.[69] He noticed repetitive signals from his receiver which were substantially different from the signals he had noted from storms and Earth noise. Specifically, he later recalled that the signals appeared in groups of one, two, three, and four clicks together. Tesla had mentioned that he thought his inventions could be used to talk with other planets. There have even been claims that he invented a "Teslascope" for just such a purpose. It is debatable what type of signals Tesla received or whether he picked up anything at all. Research has suggested that Tesla may have had a misunderstanding of the new technology he was working with,[70] or that the signals Tesla observed may have been non-terrestrial natural radio source such as the Jovian plasma torus signals.[71]
Tesla left Colorado Springs on 7 January 1900. The lab was torn down ca. 1905 and its contents sold to pay debts. The Colorado experiments prepared Tesla for the establishment of the trans-Atlantic wireless telecommunications facility known as Wardenclyffe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla
 
  • #6
jreelawg said:
Tesla had thought he may have received extraterrestrial signals.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla

That's possible, but given some of his claims I'm not sure that means much. Of course, if he DID create a receiver, he would have still heard static... technically a lot of it would extra-terrestrial in origin. :smile:
 
  • #7
is not the method tesla claimed? the same method seti is using now?
 
  • #8
threeston said:
is not the method tesla claimed? the same method seti is using now?

In a very broad sense...
 
  • #9
TurtleMeister said:
The single inventor of radio has always been a controversy. Although Marconi is usually credited, there were many involved in it's development.
I agree but if forced my vote would go to Heinrich Hertz.Marconi was an entrepreneur as well as a scientist and developed radio to the point where it became commercially useful.
 
  • #10
Is it true that, "Marconi played 'La Bamba'..." ? :wink:
 

1. How did Marconi hear a transmission before transmitters were invented?

Marconi did not technically "hear" a transmission before transmitters were invented. He experimented with radio waves and was able to detect them using a rudimentary receiver, but he did not have the means to transmit a signal until he invented the first wireless telegraph transmitter in 1895.

2. Was Marconi the first person to hear a transmission?

No, there were other scientists who had experimented with radio waves prior to Marconi, such as Heinrich Hertz and Nikola Tesla. However, Marconi was the first to successfully transmit a radio signal over a significant distance.

3. What was the significance of Marconi's transmission?

Marconi's successful transmission of a radio signal proved the viability of wireless communication and sparked the development of modern radio technology. It also laid the foundation for other forms of wireless communication, such as cell phones and Wi-Fi.

4. How did Marconi's invention impact society?

Marconi's invention revolutionized communication by allowing people to send and receive messages wirelessly over long distances. It also had a significant impact on maritime and military communication, making it easier for ships to communicate with each other and for militaries to coordinate operations.

5. How did Marconi's work contribute to the development of modern technology?

Marconi's work on radio technology paved the way for the development of other forms of wireless communication, such as television and satellite communication. It also influenced the development of other forms of technology, such as radar, which uses similar principles to detect objects at a distance.

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