1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 3 00:00:09,039 --> 00:00:17,920 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,760 Speaker 1: I'm an editor at how stuff works dot com. Sitting 6 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:25,960 Speaker 1: across me, as usual, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. I 7 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: remember all my life raining down as cold as ice. Oh, 8 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: Mandy uh and am radio Classic. Yeah, we're gonna talk 9 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: today about who invented the radio? And you would think 10 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: that this would have a very easy answer and that 11 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: we could give it and then you could be on 12 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: your Mary Little way. Not so fast. Yes, As a 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: matter of fact, I was. I was reading a book 14 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: not too long ago that made me think about topics 15 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: like this. But and Jonathan and I've talked about this 16 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: with regard to TV, because there were two people who 17 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: were working on how to create an electrical television like 18 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: rather than than a mechanical because mechanical TVs have been 19 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: around for a while, but no one had come up 20 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: with uh, an easily manufactured electric version. Right. But in 21 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:22,839 Speaker 1: that case, we were really talking about primarily two people, 22 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: and we're sort of talking about two people here, give 23 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: or take another twelve or fifteen. Right, Yeah, there's two 24 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: people that ultimately the question tends to boil down to. 25 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: But that's even that is too simplistic a a look 26 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: at radio. So to really get a get a handle 27 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: on how complex this topic is, you actually have to 28 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: go back more than five decades before radio came into being, 29 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: that's true. And and again, like a lot of scientific discovery, 30 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:56,080 Speaker 1: each new iteration is an improvement on another technology or 31 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: uses a technology that has recently been discovered in a 32 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: new way. So we're really this is another one of 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: those standing on the shoulders of giants situation, very very apt. Yeah, 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: this this is all taking place, well, the earliest parts 35 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: are taking place in the early nineteenth century, but most 36 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: of it's taking place within a two decade period at 37 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: the end of the nineteenth century. Some of it's spilling 38 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: over into the early twentieth century. And you're talking about 39 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 1: an era in which you have an enormous intellectual revolution. Right, 40 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: You've got people who are wicked smart. Right, these are 41 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,040 Speaker 1: guys and gals as well. I mean, we're in an 42 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: age where there were science was reigning supreme Science scientists 43 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: were the rock stars of this era. They really kind 44 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: of were. Yeah, I mean, you had scientists who could 45 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: command the attention of thousands at at a speech. It 46 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: was really hard to imagine now because you know, you 47 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: don't really think of like the guy from the LHC 48 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: getting up and people doing the wave. But back then, 49 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,560 Speaker 1: the guys were the people who were shaping the earth. 50 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,360 Speaker 1: So it's really a fascinating time, and there were so 51 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: many developments and so many people were working on this 52 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: sort of technology at the same time. There's no surprise 53 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: that there's controversy because you've got a lot of people 54 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: all trying to figure out how to have a useful 55 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: application of a newly discovered law or or or feature 56 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,239 Speaker 1: of the universe. Right, So clearly you're gonna have some overlap. 57 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: So let's start from before we're even talking about radio, 58 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: all right, So we're gonna talk about in eighteen thirty seven, 59 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: there's a guy named Samuel Morse, and Samuel Morris, of course, 60 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: is famous for inventing the telegraph as well as Morse Code, 61 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: which was the series of bleeps and buzzes that that 62 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: would allow you to transmit information to communicate over wires 63 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: over a long distance. Right. That the telegraph really changed 64 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: the way the world communicated um significantly. Right. It's one 65 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: of those those technologies that we like to say makes 66 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 1: the world smaller, because it significantly reduced the amount of 67 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,119 Speaker 1: time that that news traveled the world. We heard about 68 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: things far more quickly than we used to in the past. 69 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: People were able to communicate with one another across great distances, 70 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: of which you had to have a cable in order 71 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: to make that happen. Yeah, and that was the that 72 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,560 Speaker 1: was the big barrier, right. I mean, the cable was 73 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: definitely a lot more efficient than say the pony express 74 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: or carrying a message across the ocean on a on 75 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: a ship, but you still had to have a cable. 76 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: You had to have a physical connection between two stations 77 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: in order to transmit information, and unfortunately that would mean 78 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: that certain remote areas could not easily get a station. Uh. 79 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: It also meant that you had a physical object that 80 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: could withstand only so much punishment before it failed. So 81 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: you had a cable that could be broken or there 82 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:11,160 Speaker 1: could be some sort of interference there. That that meant 83 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: that it was While it was a huge leap in 84 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: communication from what came previously. There had to be a 85 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:25,120 Speaker 1: better way. Once it became apparent to companies that the 86 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: telegraph could make them lots and lots of money, people 87 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: wanted to find better ways to use the telegraph and 88 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: better telegraph technology, right because you gotta remember that first 89 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,559 Speaker 1: telegraph wire, all it could do is transmit these these 90 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: sounds like you couldn't there was no way to convert 91 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: human voice into uh electricity and transmitted across a wire. 92 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: Yet no one had figured that part out back in 93 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: seven And also you could only transmit information one way 94 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: at a time. You couldn't have two way communications simultaneously. 95 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: That and and that's one of the things that a 96 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: lot of inventors were out to to do in the 97 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: in the nineteenth century. They were earnestly looking for ways 98 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,760 Speaker 1: to improve to to make uh, make it possible to 99 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: send telegraph messages in two ways, to improve the quality 100 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: of the technology, um without necessarily just laying a pair 101 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 1: of cables and having one b one way and the 102 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: other being the other way. And you can do that, 103 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: but you've just doubled your costs exactly. The creating the 104 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: infrastructure for this system is is costly, as we all 105 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: know for talking about things like, uh, you know, replacing 106 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:43,840 Speaker 1: twisted wire telephone lines with fiber optics, or even replacing 107 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: two G cellular technology with three G or four G technology. 108 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: That's right, even then, you're talking about major changes to infrastructure. 109 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,560 Speaker 1: It's not as simple as oh, well, we just need 110 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: to throw in a software patch and everything will be cool. 111 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: It's not as simple as that. And some of you 112 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: may remember um us talking in the past about the 113 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: Internet cables that run across the ocean. Every once in 114 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: a while, something will clip one of them and will 115 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: knock out communication temporarily as traffic gets rerouted through the 116 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: other lines. But you know, it's having those giant wires 117 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: um running across the ocean is sort of impractical. It's 118 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:29,160 Speaker 1: not only costly, it's it's impractical. So I mean, it works, 119 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: but you know, you have to worry about maintenance and 120 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: and the possibility that something will cut one of the 121 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: cables or that it will just age and snap. So um. 122 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,200 Speaker 1: So people were looking into this, but investors were willing 123 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: to back that because they saw the possibility that they 124 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: might make lots and lots of money if they're uh, 125 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: if the inventors were able to capitalize on that. But 126 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: some of them inadvertently started discovering other technologies and a 127 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: lot of those advancements came out. It turned out to 128 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: be laying the groundwork for radio. Yeah, And some of 129 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: some scientists were working independently of the whole communications UH 130 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: aspect entirely, and they were just interested in learning more 131 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: about the way our universe works. One of those guys 132 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: was a mathematician named James Clerk Maxwell, and thirty thirty 133 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: years after the invent invention of the telegraph, so in 134 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, he started to think about light in 135 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: a way that no one else had thought of up 136 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: to that point. And he was thinking of light as 137 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: an electro magnetic phenomenon. Okay, so he's looking at light 138 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: and electric waves and magnetic waves, and he he thinks 139 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: these things are connected. These are not discrete UH phenomena. 140 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: These are all somehow part of a spectrum of phenomena. 141 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: So this was revolutionary. Now, unfortunately Maxwell was unable to 142 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:04,160 Speaker 1: prove his theory during his lifetime. Now we know today 143 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:06,560 Speaker 1: that this is true, that that the light that we 144 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: see that's part of the electromagnetic spectrum. We only can 145 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: we can only perceive a very narrow band of that 146 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:17,439 Speaker 1: electromagnetic spectrum with our eyes. Now, other parts of the 147 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: electromagnetic spectrum can affect us sometimes in really nasty ways, 148 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 1: but but we can only see a pretty narrow band 149 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: of it. So Maxwell was really ahead of his time, 150 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: and his his theories were part of what laid the 151 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: scientific groundwork for radio. So you had the technological groundwork 152 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: and you had the scientific groundwork, and these things are 153 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: converging at a really rapid rate. And we see that 154 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: come to a head in the eighties. Really. Yeah. Um, 155 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: somebody you might have heard of, um, Heinrich Hurts. Um. 156 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: He was the first person to measure act to actually 157 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: measure the speed of radio waves. Um. And he basically 158 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: he at the time he was a professor at a 159 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: German high school. Um. And what he was doing he 160 00:10:12,679 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: used a couple of parabolic mirrors and a spark gap. Um. 161 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: You may have seen spark gap in those old timey 162 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: monster movies. The two pieces of metal that are are 163 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: sort of together at one end and they diverge slightly 164 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:30,079 Speaker 1: and there the spark travels up from the short distance 165 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: the long distance and it looks kind of spooky. Yeah, 166 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: it's it's it's a it's stock for your average crazy 167 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:42,720 Speaker 1: scientists laboratory. So so they have three doesn't surprise me, 168 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: so don't put your hand in there. So uh so 169 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: Mr Hurts basically proved what, uh, what Maxwell was suggesting. 170 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: He was able to transmit a spark um from one 171 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: antenna with a spark gap in a ring um to another. 172 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: And uh, basically this was kind of fascinating because at 173 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: the time there was nothing, I mean, there was no 174 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: obvious connection. So you would look at it and go, 175 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,439 Speaker 1: wait a minute, that spark has traveled. Right. You had 176 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: you had one thing generating a spark right, and then 177 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: you had an antenna on the other side of the 178 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: room that could pick up uh. You know, you got 179 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: a difference in voltage there, and the there was no 180 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,559 Speaker 1: visible means of transmission. How did the energy from this 181 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: one thing on one side of the room transmit to 182 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: the other side, right? They Not only did he show 183 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: that that Maxwell's right, uh, and he was able to 184 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: measure the speed um of the of the waves and 185 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 1: and show that the waves traveled in straight lines and 186 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: they could be reflected and and the reflection is important 187 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: because we use the Earth's atmosphere to reflect radio signals. Now, um, 188 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,680 Speaker 1: but you know at the time this was absolutely groundbreak exactly. 189 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: And he discovered that that speed that Chris was talking about, 190 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: in case you're curious, was a hundred eighty six thousands, uh, 191 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 1: hundred six thousand miles per second. If that sounds familiar 192 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,200 Speaker 1: to you, it may be because that is the speed 193 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: of light. And that's kind of where we're talking about 194 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 1: how Hurts helped prove Maxwell's theories because here was this 195 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 1: other form of energy that was not visible light, but 196 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: it traveled at the same speed as visible light travel. 197 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: So that suggests that the two are in some way related. 198 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: That that's true. Um. The thing is, though we're not 199 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: talking long distance with these translations. We're talking about within 200 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 1: a room. But people began to experiment with this, one 201 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: of whom was Oliver Lodge, a British scientist. UM. He 202 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 1: was able to get reception at about seventy yards with 203 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:00,439 Speaker 1: his most sensitive equipment. UM. Others were able to get 204 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,440 Speaker 1: them get radio waves a little farther, a little shorter. Uh. 205 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: Some people were absolutely stunned that radio waves could travel 206 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: through buildings. Just was another one of those things that 207 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: we sort of take for granted today because we're used 208 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:17,040 Speaker 1: to it. But uh, you couldn't see it. So it 209 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,200 Speaker 1: was sort of, uh, sort of weird. And this was 210 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: counterintuitive to that whole electromagnetic theory, right because light we know, 211 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: if you have an opaque structure that's gonna block light, 212 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: you don't see light shining through the walls. If you did, 213 00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:34,360 Speaker 1: you'd go crazy. Uh you never sleep. Well, it depends 214 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: on how poorous the walls are. I guess it does 215 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:38,959 Speaker 1: you know. I've lived in some places let me tell 216 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,680 Speaker 1: you anyway, But in a solid opaque structure, it's gonna 217 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: block light. So the theory would be, well, if if 218 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: light and this other form of electro mantic magnetic energy 219 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: are are related, then clearly this opaque thing is gonna 220 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: block that too. Not so much. Nope, And it was 221 00:13:55,880 --> 00:14:00,839 Speaker 1: very confusing early on. It's true, Um, and I was 222 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:03,199 Speaker 1: trying to figure out who who we should talk about? Well, 223 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 1: there there are a lot of There are a lot 224 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,719 Speaker 1: of players in here. There's there's pop Off, who he 225 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:12,600 Speaker 1: had laboratory demonstrations of radio that he that he did 226 00:14:12,600 --> 00:14:17,319 Speaker 1: back in so large his work was in right, So 227 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 1: just a year later you've got pop Off doing experiments 228 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: and in the in the lab and in eight and 229 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: he's also um working with various uh methods to transmit 230 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: radio waves. And you have to again, you've gotta have 231 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 1: a transmitter and a receiver, and those are your basic 232 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 1: elements of a radio, and early radios were either one 233 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: or the other. It was a while before people could 234 00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: develop a radio that could both transmit and receive, like 235 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: to allow for two way communication. He has a transceiver. 236 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: Those early experiments were really just figuring out the whole 237 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:55,560 Speaker 1: the mode of transmission and reception. And in fact, earliest 238 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: radio signals were not tuned to a specific frequency like 239 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: they are to day, like today you tune into a 240 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,880 Speaker 1: radio station, those earliest ones were kind of more like 241 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: a shotgun approach. Uh. You know that you would get 242 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: a range of frequencies. So uh, there wasn't a big 243 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: problem early early on because you had so few people 244 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: working on this. There wasn't a lot of contamination and interference. 245 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,680 Speaker 1: But if we were to be using those same methods today, 246 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: you wouldn't be able to tune into more than a 247 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: couple of stations because they'd be taking up a really 248 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 1: broad range of the spectrum. So the earlies days of radio. 249 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 1: It was free for all. You could broadcast on whatever 250 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: part of the freak the spectrum you wanted. Because there 251 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: were so few people out there, there was nothing to 252 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: compete with. Okay, so um, yeah, and it's uh they're 253 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 1: One of the people that that I read about, sort 254 00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,280 Speaker 1: of as a red herring, was a guy named William 255 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: Crooks who uh some say some believe for a while 256 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: that he may have had a hand in creating uh 257 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: wireless telegraphy basically using radio as a telegraph um because 258 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: in February he published an article in the Fortnightly Review. 259 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: And in that article he used the word telegraphy. He said, sentony. 260 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,480 Speaker 1: That's a fancy word, and I would say probably an 261 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 1: obsolete word for the ability to tune. He said, yeah, definitely, 262 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: because I haven't heard it before I started doing any 263 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: research on this. Senteny. Oh that's kind of cool word. 264 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: But yeah, he said, oh, yes, there will be uh 265 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: you'll be able to use this wireless telegraph and you'll 266 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: be able to tune it to a specific frequency and 267 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: get uh get messages. But the problem was he um, 268 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: he had a lot of uh scientifically incorrect information in 269 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,200 Speaker 1: that article. Now, some people said, oh, well, look, he's 270 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: inspired a lot of people to do this, but there 271 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: aren't a lot of people who credit him with inspiring 272 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: them to work on radio technology. And most of most 273 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,720 Speaker 1: it seems like the article sort of came to years 274 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: later after radio was becoming a thing. Um. Some actually 275 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: suggested that maybe he was trying to take credit for 276 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,159 Speaker 1: it after the fact, So he was Rhett Conning. But 277 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:14,119 Speaker 1: it seems like I would guess that there are people, 278 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:18,520 Speaker 1: there are people who are like like crooks, crooks who 279 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:21,680 Speaker 1: had an idea that's the kind of an ironic name. Um, 280 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: who at least had a grip to some degree on 281 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: what you could do with the technology. They had a 282 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 1: piece of it, but not the whole picture. Yeah. Another 283 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: guy who appeared to have the whole picture, but was 284 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: a little too reluctant to share his technology. This guy, 285 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: this guy could have been the inventor of radio. People 286 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: give him credit for there, this guy because he was 287 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: able to demonstrate radio very early on. Comparatively speaking, So 288 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:55,120 Speaker 1: in eight two you have an inventor by the name 289 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: of Nathan Nathan stubble Field right from Murray, Kentucky. He 290 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:03,160 Speaker 1: was a farmer and inventor so clearly, if you're farming, 291 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: you're gonna think I want to invent me a radio. 292 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,160 Speaker 1: I am, I am amazed. I mean to me, it's 293 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: just it's really it shows that ingenuity is is a 294 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: phenomenal thing and it it can strike anywhere. Right. So 295 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:21,080 Speaker 1: you have stubble Field, who was legitimately a really smart 296 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: and clever guy. Uh. And so in eighteen ninety two 297 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: he publicly demonstrates a wireless communication system and not only 298 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 1: does it broadcast radio signals, he could actually broadcast voice 299 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: and music. Now, keep in mind, the earliest radio public 300 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,239 Speaker 1: demonstrations were all tones. It wasn't It wasn't like you 301 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:44,919 Speaker 1: could do a symphony over the radio. It was you 302 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: could you could transmit Morse code over the radio. So 303 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: here you have stubble Field in eighteen ninety two demonstrating this, 304 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: and uh he was able to do it again in 305 00:18:56,320 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: eight which this one was actually document eight two is 306 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,920 Speaker 1: is undocumented, so you know it could be up for debate. 307 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:10,120 Speaker 1: But the St. Louis Dispatch documented and demonstration he did 308 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,439 Speaker 1: where he transmitted radio waves at a distance of around 309 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: five hundred yards. Uh. This this was a big problem 310 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,280 Speaker 1: with a lot of the early radio broadcasters. They didn't 311 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: have a lot of range to their broadcasts. Right, five 312 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:27,119 Speaker 1: yards is not that far right, So you you'd have 313 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,399 Speaker 1: your DJ coming on and say, I have a short 314 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: distance dedicated this guy over here dedicates it to that 315 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: gal over there. You could see each other. Why don't 316 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 1: your wave? Um so the but he he demonstrates it, 317 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: and he could have potentially been the father of the radio. 318 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:50,200 Speaker 1: But here's the problem. Stubble Field, it was a little paranoid. 319 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,120 Speaker 1: He was worried that people were going to steal his invention, 320 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,439 Speaker 1: so worried that he would hide it away in a 321 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: shack and lock it up. And then he out an 322 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: offer to sell his invention, and uh it was five 323 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars for his invention. Um this was around 324 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: uh oh, in the late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds. 325 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: Five thousand dollars. That's a lot of clams. It's a 326 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 1: lot of clams today. And it was even more clams. 327 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: It was like an entire beta clams back back then. 328 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: And so stubble Field turned it down. And what's interesting 329 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: to me is we actually see this mirrored in the 330 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 1: way some companies behave today. I was talking to Chris 331 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:41,040 Speaker 1: about this earlier. There's another company that recently was offered 332 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,520 Speaker 1: about six billion dollars to be an acquisition of of 333 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: another larger company, um but they turned it down. This 334 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: company turned down that six billion dollar offer and valued 335 00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: itself at twenty five billion dollars. But as a result 336 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,840 Speaker 1: of waiting around too long, one could argue the value 337 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: of the company has dropped significantly since then. And Chris, 338 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: what's the name of that company? Group On? Group On? 339 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: So here Groupon took the internet by storm. Everyone was 340 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: really impressed by group On. Everyone thought that this was 341 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:16,879 Speaker 1: really where where things were moving. Well, that's kind of 342 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:20,080 Speaker 1: the problem because things were moving in that direction, but 343 00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:23,840 Speaker 1: there was no way to protect groupons business model, and 344 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: so lots of other companies sprang up that uh mimic 345 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: groupons business models, some of which you might even argue 346 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 1: improve on Groupon's business model. Well, because Groupon was kind 347 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:40,080 Speaker 1: of holding back. Now its position is a little more 348 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: tenuous because you have all these competitors that could steal 349 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:47,959 Speaker 1: the limelight away from group On. The same thing happened 350 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: more than a hundred years ago, was stubble Field. This 351 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:55,239 Speaker 1: is a story that goes back decades and decades you know, 352 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,199 Speaker 1: you think we'd learn our lesson by now. You know, 353 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,000 Speaker 1: you strike while the iron is hot. People. So stubble Field, 354 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: because he sat on his invention and because he did 355 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: not act upon it. Uh, he was scooped by other inventors. 356 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: And there's a pair of people who we need to 357 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: talk about, one of whom was ultimately scooped by the 358 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:18,119 Speaker 1: other one, and the other one used the technology of 359 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: the first. Isn't that fun? Yeah? Um? Yeah? And and 360 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 1: as a as a tragic uh conclusion to stubble field story, 361 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: he died a pauper of starvation. Wow. So he turned 362 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,200 Speaker 1: the money down. And I guess his farm didn't survive either, 363 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: apparently because I mean starvation and a farmer. Wow. But 364 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: it was Kentucky, so maybe he was just growing you know, 365 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:50,879 Speaker 1: bourbon girls on trees. Right. I don't know. I don't drink, 366 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: so I have no knowledge of that. So we move 367 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:56,159 Speaker 1: on and talk about those two fellows. So here are 368 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,879 Speaker 1: the two people that most discussions about who invented the radio. 369 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: Ultimately it boils down to these two guys, even though we've, 370 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: as we've argued, there are a lot of other people 371 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: you have to consider in this equation, and that is 372 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: Nicola Tesla. And I'm just gonna say g Marconi because 373 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 1: I can't stay pronounce his first name. It's Italian, and 374 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 1: I am not. So Marconi is often given the credit 375 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,560 Speaker 1: for inventing the radio. In fact, he has the official credit, 376 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,440 Speaker 1: at least by the in the eyes of the United 377 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: States government, for inventing the radio. Other other people give 378 00:23:34,560 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: credit to other people. But you know that that's the 379 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: way it goes with these things. Um So Marconi was 380 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: legitimately working on radio. It's not like Marconi was just 381 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 1: some guy who swept in and stole everything. He was 382 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: actually working hard on trying to find a way to 383 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,400 Speaker 1: make long distance radio transmission a reality. He was having 384 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,080 Speaker 1: some trouble though. A lot of his UH his transmissions 385 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,160 Speaker 1: were going to a maximum distance of about one point 386 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: five kilometers, and that's just not far enough for for 387 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:15,160 Speaker 1: real broadcast power. So, in fact, I think I read 388 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:20,000 Speaker 1: somewhere where one one UH critic said that his his 389 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: broadcast wouldn't reach across a pond, which makes me wonder 390 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,679 Speaker 1: if that's where we got that. You know, when you 391 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: go across the pond, But I honestly don't know. I 392 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 1: don't know, but it does make me wonder if that's 393 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: where we got that phrase, because ultimately Marconi was able 394 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:42,800 Speaker 1: to send a signal from Europe to America. Yeah, that's 395 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: a that would be a question for a way with words. Yeah, yeah, 396 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: is this is a phrase across the pond date back 397 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: to Marconi's invention or you know, credited invention of the radio. 398 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: But Marconi used a lot of technology developed by someone else, 399 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: developed by Nicola Tesla, so much so that Nicola Tesla 400 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: probably not entirely jokingly said that Marconi was using he 401 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: wished Marconi, well, the man's using seventeen of my patents. Well, 402 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 1: and that may be true. True, I didn't, I didn't 403 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: look into it that far. But the thing, and that 404 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:22,239 Speaker 1: was the case for a lot of things UM. In 405 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:27,439 Speaker 1: the in the creation of alternating current Westinghouse UM, George 406 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: Westinghouse was using a lot of Tesla's patents to UM 407 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: and then using the technology that Tesla patented. Assuming you 408 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: know that that Tesla is getting credit for it, then 409 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: Tesla would earn some you know, with a license properly 410 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:47,439 Speaker 1: licensed patent, the Tesla should be earning some residuals on 411 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:51,320 Speaker 1: Marconi's invention. Yeah, here's the problem, Marconi. There's a problem 412 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: Marconi didn't admit readily that he was using any of 413 00:25:54,520 --> 00:26:00,359 Speaker 1: Tesla's stuff. Like, what what Tesla had been to do 414 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: is he was able through the actually really Tesla coils 415 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,359 Speaker 1: is what we're getting down to, he was able to 416 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: invent away of of creating really powerful bursts of energy 417 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 1: of electricity. Right, you remember the the hurts and using 418 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,560 Speaker 1: the transmitting the electrical energy from one place to another. Right, 419 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: So the Tesla coil is far more powerful. Yeah, it's 420 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: it's a it's a refined, powerful invention that's based upon 421 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: that principle. And through using this as part of a 422 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:36,160 Speaker 1: radio transmission system, Marconi was able to transmit signals much 423 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,720 Speaker 1: further than he could on his old system. But uh, 424 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: according to some of the reports I've read, and there's 425 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,200 Speaker 1: a lot of I mean, there are Testlas supporters out 426 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,479 Speaker 1: there who who rape Marconi over the coals, and then 427 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: there are other people who either dismissed Tesla's involvement or 428 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: they downplay it. Um, there's some people who are true 429 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: Marconi supporters. The whole thing is really muddy, right, But 430 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:05,480 Speaker 1: from what I gather, Marconi tried to argue he patented 431 00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: the radio in the UK, Tesla did it in the 432 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: United States. Now, Marconi argued that you know, hey, I 433 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:16,920 Speaker 1: was able to make this thing work and no one 434 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,639 Speaker 1: else was, so I I deserved the patent for this 435 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: this technology um and even argued so far as to say, hey, 436 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,680 Speaker 1: what Tesla coil and which case A judge was saying, Oh, 437 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: come on, that's a that's a common word here, because, 438 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: like we said, these guys were rock stars. It's not 439 00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 1: like this stuff was obscure. This stuff was front page news. 440 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: So people knew these terms. They didn't necessarily understand them all, 441 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: but they knew what they knew of them, and so 442 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:48,400 Speaker 1: for someone to feign ignorance seemed disingenuous at best. So 443 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,400 Speaker 1: Marconi is arguing that he should be the one, uh 444 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: that people back, and Tesla isn't arguing as much because 445 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: Tesla didn't feel that he needed to argue. He felt 446 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: he was in the right. He didn't why should I 447 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,439 Speaker 1: come forward and and fight tooth and nail with this 448 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: guy when it's so obvious that I'm the person that 449 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,080 Speaker 1: credit should go to. That was kind of Testla's viewpoint, 450 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: as far as we can tell. You gotta also remember 451 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: Tesla became increasingly mentally unstable towards the end of his life. 452 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: He became more and more paranoid, possibly with good reason, 453 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: because of the way he had been treated in his 454 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: past um and so it's hard to kind of definitively 455 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: say what the man was thinking. Also, he had had 456 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: this rivalry with Edison, right that dated back, Yes, it 457 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:42,280 Speaker 1: dated back to the World's Fair where it was between 458 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: Edison and Tesla. Who's going whose system is going to 459 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: power the World's Fair in Chicago. Is it gonna be 460 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 1: Edison's direct current power or is it gonna be Testla's 461 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: alternating current? Ultimately it went to Tesla. Edison not a 462 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: man who drops a grudge easily, as it turns out. 463 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: And so Edison's looking around and he's saying, you know, 464 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:05,240 Speaker 1: this is gonna be a big thing. This is gonna 465 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:09,719 Speaker 1: make bookoos of cash. I gotta get in on this. 466 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: Andrew Carnegie, great philanthropist, industrialist. He also says, this is 467 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:19,800 Speaker 1: where it's at, this is the next huge development in technology. 468 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: I'm getting in on this. They look around. You've got Tesla, 469 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: who is brilliant but is also self destructive, not necessarily intentionally, 470 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: but his behavior and his obsession with transmitting power over 471 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: a long distance broadcasting power building essentially what it would 472 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: amount to an enormous Tesla coil and cloaking the earth 473 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:45,720 Speaker 1: and electricity sounds a little like a mad scientist, not 474 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: necessarily the guy you're gonna go and dump keeps a 475 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,080 Speaker 1: cash on top of So then they look at Marconi. 476 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: Marconi who has proven that his technology works. His technology, 477 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,600 Speaker 1: which admittedly rests on the shoulders of others like Tesla. 478 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: He Marconi even demonstrates that he can send a signal 479 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:09,760 Speaker 1: transatlantically across the entire ocean. He transmits the letter S 480 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: in Morse code, and that proves that his system works. 481 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: With a proven system, with a man who does not 482 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: appear to be unhinged. That's the guy that everyone gives 483 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,680 Speaker 1: their money to. So Marconi starts to get the political 484 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: and the financial support, and Marconi ends up coming over 485 00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:31,000 Speaker 1: to America and even wins a patent for a radio, 486 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: the patent that was previously not the same one, but 487 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 1: the patent that had been Tesla's became overturned in court. 488 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: And this is where the huge controversy is. People say 489 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: that essentially that Edison Carnegie and even Marconi, who came 490 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: from a family that was really well connected and really 491 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: wealthy in Europe, that they used their political and financial 492 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 1: clout to force the Patent Office, essentially the court system 493 00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: of the United States, to overturn Tesla's patents so that 494 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,800 Speaker 1: Marconi could be the the true patent holder for the 495 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:12,040 Speaker 1: inventor of radio. Meanwhile, Tesla's screaming to the heavens and 496 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 1: shaking his tiny fists in vain and also watching his 497 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,760 Speaker 1: lab burned down for the fourth or fifth time that happened. 498 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 1: Tesla had a run of incredibly bad luck. We did 499 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: do an episode on Tesla. I recommend you listen to 500 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: that if you really want to hear the story of 501 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,560 Speaker 1: his life. Yeah, the loss of Warden Cliff, Oh yeah, 502 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: that that was I think probably would have affected his 503 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: ability to defend his So. Yeah, radio. So now you've 504 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: got so if you're asking officially who invented the radio, well, 505 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,600 Speaker 1: if you're going by the documents in the United States government, 506 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: it's Marconi, right, But if you're going to ask an inventor, 507 00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:53,680 Speaker 1: then you might hear a different answer, and it may 508 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: not be Tesla. The inventor may say, well, yeah, Tesla 509 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,959 Speaker 1: was able to create the technology that made podcast radio 510 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: viable thing. But if you want to talk about who 511 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:07,200 Speaker 1: invented the radio, you gotta go back before him. So it's, 512 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: like we said, a really complex topic, yes, and definitely 513 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 1: fascinating to look at at how these great inventors were 514 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: all developing an important piece of the puzzle or or 515 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: improving upon the technology to increase distance and quality. Um, 516 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: it's just fascinating. And then you get into other things 517 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: like who you know which was the first radio station 518 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: and that unfortunately is not a clear answer either either. 519 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:42,480 Speaker 1: So so wait, uh, Chris yet ask you okay, gun 520 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: to the head. Yep, there is a there's a man 521 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: standing up in front of you. His gun is pointed 522 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: towards your noggain, and he says, who invented the radio? 523 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:55,959 Speaker 1: You have to give me one name and that's it. Ultimately, 524 00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 1: who do you say invented the radio? That's fair. I 525 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: would say the same thing. But I certainly wouldn't uh 526 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 1: put down Marconi because he did so much important work 527 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 1: and and and one of the things that he did 528 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: for radio that Tesla really wasn't doing was promoting the 529 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 1: idea that it could be used for commercial purposes and 530 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: getting investors behind it because Tesla was kind of sitting 531 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:23,520 Speaker 1: on it. Yeah, Tesla was kind of like this rock 532 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: star showman. But Marconi was a rock star businessman and 533 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: he was really behind radio. I don't think he he 534 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: wasn't into as many different kinds of technology. I mean, 535 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:37,360 Speaker 1: Tesla was into all the sports things and and Marconi 536 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: was really the radio guy. So so we've got some 537 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: some sources we'd like to mention to you guys to 538 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: check out if you're really interested in this, because, like 539 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:48,360 Speaker 1: I said, this is a fascinating time in history. In fact, 540 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: let me let me read. I meant to do this earlier, um, 541 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: but I wanted to give you what Einstein said radio was. 542 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,560 Speaker 1: Einstein's definition of radio is one of my favorites. Is 543 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: you see why are telegram as a kind of very 544 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: very long cat you pull his tail in New York 545 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: and his head as mewing in Los Angeles? Do you 546 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,840 Speaker 1: understand this? Well, radio operates in the same way you 547 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:13,360 Speaker 1: send signals here, they received them there. The only difference 548 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:19,360 Speaker 1: is that there's no cat. I love that description, Like, 549 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 1: oh well now it makes sense. Einstein. Thank you? Can 550 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:24,800 Speaker 1: you tell me about my relatives now, just in general, 551 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: nothing special, just a theory. So let's talk about some 552 00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: of the sources we use, because we we came across 553 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 1: some really really useful ones. Yeah, and it's one of 554 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: the things that I found funny about that we were 555 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: talking about how just a moment ago, about how convoluted 556 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,960 Speaker 1: this whole thing is, a lot of my sources didn't overlap. 557 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,520 Speaker 1: So we we sort of glued some of this together 558 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,600 Speaker 1: from different people because I found a couple of books 559 00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: um at the library and that might be at yours too. 560 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 1: One was Sentony and Sparked The Origins of Radio by 561 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:59,200 Speaker 1: Hugh G. J Aitken A I. T. K. E. N. 562 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,239 Speaker 1: And the other ones Wireless from Marconius Black Box to 563 00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:06,359 Speaker 1: the Audience by Sun Coook Hong, both of which were 564 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: excellent and got into a whole lot more detailed we 565 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,759 Speaker 1: really really can't get into now. But Jonathan found a 566 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:15,439 Speaker 1: couple of excellent websites that we used to that had 567 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,640 Speaker 1: Stubblefield wasn't in either one of those books. Yeah, there's 568 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,680 Speaker 1: um there's one that was done by Julian t. Ruben 569 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 1: and actually it's Julian t Ruben dot Com. There's a 570 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:28,439 Speaker 1: whole section about radio and the inventors. There there even 571 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:30,920 Speaker 1: other people that we didn't talk about, like Loomis and 572 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: Bows and Forest de Forest. Yeah, there's there's When we 573 00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: say that there were a lot of people working on this, 574 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: that's nine exaggeration. There were way more than we were 575 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,799 Speaker 1: able to talk about in this episode. Um, but yeah, 576 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: if you want to learn more about them, i'd recommend 577 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: that UH. That site. Also there is an excellent article 578 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:53,560 Speaker 1: by b. Eric Rhodes that's R H O A D S. 579 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,439 Speaker 1: Just who invented radio and which was the first station? Uh, 580 00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,440 Speaker 1: it's a it's also a really good read and a 581 00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:05,280 Speaker 1: great overview of radio. And finally, there's a website called 582 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: Amateur Radio and Electronics. UH. The u r L is 583 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:13,239 Speaker 1: v W L O W E N dot c O 584 00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:18,239 Speaker 1: dot UK, so it's a it's a British site. Also 585 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,200 Speaker 1: has a great section on radio and how it works 586 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: and UH and its history. So I recommend checking these 587 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: out if you're interested in the topic. Also, we do 588 00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 1: have lots of articles on our site about radio, how 589 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,839 Speaker 1: radio works, how the radio spectrum works, how transistor radios work, 590 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: how crystal radios work. All of that information you can 591 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,319 Speaker 1: find at how stuff Works dot com and if you're 592 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:42,480 Speaker 1: interested in this stuff, definitely take a look at it. 593 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 1: There's a ton of different ways of actually building your 594 00:36:45,200 --> 00:36:47,439 Speaker 1: own radio. I mean that used to be a big 595 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:49,719 Speaker 1: thing back in the fifties and sixties, but you can 596 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:52,120 Speaker 1: still do it today. And it's a neat way to 597 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:55,960 Speaker 1: kind of learn some electronics and uh and some engineering, 598 00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:58,239 Speaker 1: and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you 599 00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:01,280 Speaker 1: build something like that. That's true. I built a crystal 600 00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: a m radio when I was a kid from a 601 00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 1: from a kid which was which was a lot of fun. 602 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,759 Speaker 1: And it's just so sad that all these people work 603 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,360 Speaker 1: so hard on the radio and then video killed the 604 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:17,520 Speaker 1: radio star. Yeah, that darn, darn you MTV. And now 605 00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:19,920 Speaker 1: I understand the problems you can see. I remember that 606 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:24,360 Speaker 1: the second video was a pet Benatar video. That's all 607 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:26,640 Speaker 1: that's true. Okay, look it up. I just can't remember 608 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,200 Speaker 1: the name of the song now, but it wasn't been 609 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:31,120 Speaker 1: Atar video anyway. A little trivia for those people who 610 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,239 Speaker 1: lived through the launch of MTV. We're there for you. 611 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,680 Speaker 1: If you guys want to let us know about any 612 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:40,520 Speaker 1: topics you'd like us to cover, or you have any 613 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,080 Speaker 1: comments or questions. You can get in touch with us 614 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: on Twitter and Facebook are handled. There is tech Stuff 615 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,440 Speaker 1: h s W or you can send U an email. 616 00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,480 Speaker 1: That address is tech stuff at how stuff works dot 617 00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:54,080 Speaker 1: com and Chris and I will talk to you again 618 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:59,320 Speaker 1: really soon. For more on this and thousands of other topics. 619 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:01,439 Speaker 1: Is the house to up works dot com. To learn 620 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:04,279 Speaker 1: more about the podcast, click on the podcast icon in 621 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,880 Speaker 1: the upper right corner of our homepage. The House stuff 622 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,400 Speaker 1: Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. 623 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 624 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: It's ready, are you