[NJARC] Where does radio begin?

[Alex Magoun]

Steve,

Al's offered a free book by an early practitioner, and Monroe's suggested a
general book on electronics that includes a survey history drawing on other
surveys.  For a thoughtful explanation by a historian who works from
primary as well as secondary sources and who understands what Hertz, Lodge,
Marconi were trying to do, find a copy of Hugh Aitken's Syntony and Spark:
The Origins of Radio (1976, reprinted 1985).  It's out of print but if the
price is too high online, ask your library to borrow a copy through
Inter-Library Loan.

In short, Hertz was trying to compare the speed of em waves on a wire and
through the limited space of his lab, which forced down to the 2m/50MHz
range.  Marconi had a different purpose, to transmit farther, and worked
his way up in wavelength by discovering that longer antennas enabled this.

Best, Alex Magoun

-- 
Alexander B. Magoun, Ph.D.
Outreach Historian, IEEE History Center
39 Union Street, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8538 USA

+1 732-981-3414
www.ieeeghn.org
www.ieee.org/history_center