Charlene Billings, age 10, Houston, Texas, for her question:
Who invented the radio?
A radio program is carried to you on invisible waves of energy, They are all about us and have been here since the world began. Modern radio grew in two stages, Ones the magic waves had to be discovered and understood. This was the work of the scientists, Two, the magic waves had to be tamed instruments made to put them to work. This was the work of the inventors. The work in both stages grew bit by bit, It was gathered from people of various nations. The work of one grew from the work of someone before him. Improvements are still going on. For we do not yet know all about radio wave or what more they can do.
The scientists had to begin the work, Certain waves were suspected long ago, In 1867 James Maxwell presented his work on electromagnetic waves to experts in London, Maxwell later predicted that his waves could be used to carry messages. In 1887, Heinrich Hertz of Germany followed up the work already done and explained more of the nature of the magic waves.
Radio waves act much as light waves. They radiate, they travel at about 186,000 miles a second, they travel in pulsating waves from crests to troughs. Frequency is the number of waves created per second. Radio travels on low, or slow, frequency. It dawdles along at only a few million waves per second.
Maxwell the scientist, predicted that radio signals were possible. Wide awake inventors cocked their ears. The scientists had discovered what could be done. The inventors got busy inventing how it could be done. They needed instruments to give sounds and signals to the radio waves. They needed other instruments to take the messages out of the radiating waves. These instruments are, of course, the broadcasting and receiving sets. In between, the radio waves fan out and do their job in silence.
The first radio signals were sent and received over a distance of one and three quarter miles. Guglielmo Marconi applied for a patent as the inventor of radio in 1896 just 60 years ago. In 1897 he sent ship to shore signals over 18 miles Radio soon spanned the Atlantic, On March 30, 1903, the London Times printed a transatlantic radiogram.
Other inventors added improvements, In 1904, Flemming of England gave us the vacuum tube, In 1906, de Forest of the U. S6 gave us the parent of the radio tube, In 1916, he broadcast music, In 1920, election results were broadcast from Pittsburg Penna.
Home owners became interested: Ask your Grandpa to describe those first home radio sets. Each person listened through earphones, More and more inventions were necessary to perfect that wonderful little box that brings you radio programs at the turn of a dial,
So, thank Mr, Marconi for inventing the first workable radio. Also thank all the others who discovered the waves and improved on the basic invention.