THE DISCOVERY OF RADIO.

Shannon News, 8 January 1926, Page 3

THE DISCOVERY OF RADIO.

ITS PROGRiEISSi AND AGCPMPLIS<H- . M©NT& ' Electricity in its simplest form wias known to the ancients many centuries before the Christian era. For instance, in the seventh century R.G., Thales, of Miletus, a city in Asia Minor, described the 1 remarkable property of attraction and repulsion which amber possesses when mtobed. This phenomenon was noted, from time to time in the succeeding centuries, but it was wot until 1600'A.D., that Dr. Gilbert, of Gol- • (Chester, England, -undertook the study of this subject. The word "magnet" originated in Magnesia, also a town in Asia Minor, and where the iodestcnes, which possess the (property of attracting small particles of iron, were first found.' This discovery is recorded as having been made by the philosopher, Plato, born 480 years Ibefoare the dawn of the Christian era. Such then were the first small rays of light, whose effulgence in later centuries v was destined to play no mean 1 part in international relationships. In 1867 James Clerk an eminent .English scientist, announced the existence of the electro-mag-netic waves now .used in wireless. Twenty-one years later Heinrich Rudolph Hertz, a young German scientist, produced such waves and demonstrated, their similarity to light and heat waves. For all practical, purposes it may be sali4 that these "Hertzian" waves arrive instantaneously at their destinatLom,, and for this reason radio is used extensively for the trans'indssion of time signals, by which ship-masters check their chronometers. In 189 S, Nikola Tesla, an Austrian scientist, living in America, captured the attention*'of the world with a remarkable series of demonstrations in the application of ! electro-magnetic waves to wireless signalling. Sir William Crookes, an eminent British scientiest, was very impressed with Testa's .observations and thoroughly, endorsed the demonstrations. Both Professor D. E. Hughes and* Sir Oliver Lodge conducted extensive research .into the elusive- problems that surrounded wireless phenomena,, but it was not until the advent of Gugllemo Marconi, a. young liaiiiiian, that any actual progress was made. At the latter, part of 1895 Marconi was able to transmit wireless signals to a distance of about 11 miles! How he (must simile 'in retrospect! Two years later he succeeded in covering a span of nine miles across the Bristol Ghannel. One year later this range had been increased to 14 miles, and Marconi's' transmitting system was; installed, at the request of King Edward VII,, then Prince of Wales, on board the Royal yacht "Osborne" in Cowes Bay. Osborne House, Isle of Wight, wag also* fitted with a receiving plant and when the Prince injured his knee and was confined to the yacht, communication was established between ship and shore. The first occasion upon which radio was instrumental in. the saving of human lives was in April of 1899, when the R. F. Matthews ran ashore diuring a dense fog. The fact that the East Goodwin liglMship possessed Mlarconi appartus enabled the immediate despatch of tugs and a lifeboat from Ramsgate to the assistance of the sinking ship. Later the two British cruisers "Juno" and "Eurapa" were equipped with wireless installations . and were able to communicate with stations 85 miles away. From that time onwards radio became ah established necessity for navigation, and eventually a law was passed prohibiting ships travelling without wireless apparatus. .

In 1904 Professor J. Flemiimg patented nig two-element vacuum tube which brought hpltherto unheard stations within the range of audibility, and which 'marked the first revolutionary step in the ''advancement of radio research. (Later, Dr. Lee de Forest, after tlie solving of many intricate problems produced by the action of Fleniiijiiig's tube, introduced a third dement into the little vacuum bottle that was destined to aohieive so much and to l open so many bewildering vistas of investigation. After the inclusion of de Forest's new element countries, wirelessly speaking, leapt the oceans separating them with tremendous jumps, and when the valve was applied to transmission as well as reception it was found that three or four times the distance could toe bridged at one-fifth of the power input. In 1910 telephony, the wondertihiild of the vacuJuim tube was born and introduced to the world' without preamble of noise. At that time Garuso and Mme. Tetrazziirm were singing in America and arrangements were made to have their voices broad-casted. This was accomplished and radio men on Atlantic liners and ocean tramps were astounded to hear the voices of this wonderful duo in an aria from oftie of the operas. One operator, it is said, could i'Ot credit what he had. heard and thought that his health was (becoming undermined, that he imagined the voices. However, his enlightenment quickly followed and tiie achievement was boomed across a very sceptical world. The war and post-war years were re- ! sponsible for many extraordinary, developments in the; science. v ln the early days mariners enjoyed' but limited protection from lighthouses and lightships. Foggy weather would quench iiheir lights into obscurity, and the roaring surf drowned the tolling bell. Nowadays, radio-light-houses are constructed near or on places dangerous to shipping, their eXadt position being automatically

transmitted at regular periods of time, and when this practice has been universally adopted the annual loss of human life Will have been reduced to a minimum. Directional wireless, has also been evolved and the use of a wireless "mirror" enables the high-frequency vibrations to be reflected in any desired rlnection. The apparent advantages -.possessed hy this method over that ef broadcateting axe further enhanced bv the fact that waves so controlled are received 200 times louder than bv the old transmission. Television; the control of moving: aeroplanes, ships, etc; the transmission of photographs over hundreds of miles; the location of mineral strata, all these uses and accomplishmienits haye been made possible by the advent oi a small vacuum lamp. whose structure differed but slightly from the ordinary electric light globe, but whose action was to 'be instrumental in bridging seas arid continents, and ■make netgNboujirs of people separated bv'leagues.