Developments
in radio technology in the late nineteenth century were rapid and diverse.
In 1865, a Cambridge University Professor, James Clerk Maxwell, proposed
his theory on the existence of electromagnetic waves. More than two decades
later, their existence was confirmed in a practical demonstration by German
physicist, Heinrich Hertz.
In the following decade, significant advances were made in refining Hertz's experiments, including the work of Professor Eduard Branly in France and Sir Oliver Lodge in England.
A precursor to the mobile phone: Marconi's wireless telephone station
But it was the work of a young Italian, Guglielmo Marconi, which took the new science out of the laboratory and into the 'real' world.
Marconi lived with his parents in Pontecchio, near Bologna. From boyhood, he had been fascinated with science and in 1894, after studying the work of Hertz, he began his first experiments using electromagnetic waves. Using refined equipment and incorporating a Morse key he found he could send signals from one part of the house to another.
Soon his experiments became more ambitious; his most significant advance
being to attach aerials and earths to both transmitter and receiver. He
then realised that the distance over which signals could be sent was relative
to the size and elevation of the cylindrical aerials.
In 1895, Marconi offered to demonstrate his new signalling system to the
Italian Government. His offer was declined. Undeterred, he sailed for
England, hoping to interest the British Government in his inventions.
In June 1896 Marconi applied for, and was granted, the first patent for wireless telegraphy. The following year he formed the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company and built the very first coastal radio station; an experimental station on the Isle of Wight.
Within a few years, a chain of radio stations had been completed around
the English coast. Marconi continued to conduct some amazing demonstrations,
the most spectacular of which was to pass radio signals across the Atlantic
Ocean in 1901.
