Pioneers of Radio Communication

Abstract

By the 1890s the theoretical predictions of Clerk Maxwell and the experimental demonstration by Heinrich Hertz of the existence of electromagnetic “radio” waves had begun to stimulate speculation that perhaps these “Hertzian” waves might be used instead of wires to transmit telegraph and telephone signals over large distances. After all, light—which also consisted of electromagnetic waves—had already been used in the semaphore system to transmit telegraph signals (Chapter 2).