Pre-1900 - The Theory and Foundation

1883

The Edison Effect is discovered while Thomas Edison was trying to find a way to keep the inside of his electric lights free of soot. He actually placed a metal plate inside the bulb and connected a wire to it creating a diode! Unfortunately, he did not realize the implications - or did not take time to pursue them because of other interests at the time.
Edison patents the Fuse.

1885

Edouard Branly begins his work investigating the transmission of nerve impulses. His research over the next several years will result in what will later be called the 'coherer' - a device for detecting 'Hertzian waves'.

1886

Professor Amos Dolbear of Tufts College obtains a patent for an induction method of wireless telegraph.

1887

Heinrich Hertz proves Maxwell's theory that electricity can travel through space in waves. He went on to show that these waves shared the same physical properties as light.

Hertz

1890

Michael Pupin studies low pressure vacuum-tube discharges, and invents an electrical resonator. At his death in 1935 he held 34 patents, most used in telephony and telegraphy.

1891

Edison receives a patent for wireless telegraphy.

Edison

1894

Guglielmo Marconi reads about Heinrich Hertz's discovery of electro-magnetic waves.

1895

Marconi succeeds in signaling across the family estate by radio - a distance of about 1.2 miles.

1896

Marconi transports his wireless invention to England. Upon entry to the country, nervous customs officials smash his apparatus under suspicion that it may be part of an Italian anarchist plot.
Nikola Tesla introduces the use of a rotary gap for his spark transmitter .

Tesla

Marconi takes out patents in England for 'wireless telegraphy'.

1897

Joseph John Thompson discovers the existence of the electron.
The Marconi Company is formed in England.

1898

Marconi installs the worlds first commercial radio service on Rathlin Island off the coast of Ireland.

1899

Marconi installs wireless equipment on three British battleships.
Marconi in one of his early commercial stations.

Nathan B. Stubblefield reportedly transmits voice messages by wireless.
Marconi sends radio messages across the English Channel.
Marconi arrives in New York with his wireless equipment to issue radio reports on a yacht race.

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