Today in Technology History
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December 11
Today, we begin the story of the first long-distance test of radio.
Radio was invented by Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937). He came from a wealthy Italian family and studied science under private tutors. He read about electromagnetic waves and realized that they could be used to send signals -- dots and dashes of Morse code -- so he invented instruments for transmitting and receiving such signals.
By the end of 1900, Marconi (now living in England) had secured patents, started a company and become famous for sending "wireless telegraph" signals for dozens of miles.
In 1901, he proposed to set a new long-distance record for transmitting radio signals. The old record was 80 miles; Marconi now planned to send a signal across the Atlantic Ocean -- about 2,000 miles.
It was quite a challenge. When sending a radio signal across such a long distance, the curve of the planet's surface has to be taken into account. In essence, the ocean becomes a mountain of water, many miles high. Experts debated whether radio signals would follow the curvature of the Earth, or whether they would disappear into the ocean.
Marconi constructed a transmitting station in Cornwall at the southwest tip of England. Fierce winds blew it down, but he had it rebuilt.
The receiving station was built in Cape Cod, Massachusetts -- and that blew down, too. Instead of rebuilding on the same spot, he moved it hundreds of miles to the northeast, to the huge Canadian island of Newfoundland. With two assistants, Marconi set up base in an old hospital.
On December 11, 1901, Marconi and his team sent a hydrogen-filled balloon into the air. The balloon would pick up the signals, which would zip down a metal wire and into Marconi's equipment.
At least that was the plan. Severe wind ripped the balloon away.
So he decided to try again the next day.
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