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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif ""It Seems to Us . . ." Who Needs BPL?"){kind=small} Previous: "It Seems to Us . . ." Who Needs BPL? |  Next: Texas Antenna Case Shows PRB-1 is No Paper Tiger |
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor
October 20, 2003
This week, we revisit last week's column and find out who else invented radio.
Last week's "Who Invented Radio?" installment of Surfin' resulted in even more e-mail than the "Who Invented Television?" Surfin' three weeks ago!
It appears that we missed a few "inventors" last week.
 Did J. C. Bose invent radio? Consider that question when you read the article about Bose at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Web page. |
Ramakrishnan Muthukrishnan from Cochin, India, is waiting for his Amateur Radio license to arrive from his country's Ministry of Communications, but he is right on top of the history of radio. He wrote, "You seem to have totally ignored the fact that J. C. Bose of Calcutta, India, was a pioneer in radio communications. There are many IEEE papers, which now prove that Marconi was a copycat and he copied ideas from Bose and also from the Russian scientist [Alexander Popov]." Bose built equipment that operated in the super high frequencies--up to 60 GHz! Ramakrishnan suggested reading the Bose story at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Web page to get more information. The IEEE paper titled "Italian Navy Coherer Scandal Revisited," (Proc. IEEE, Vol. 86, No. 1, January 1988) also contains pertinent information.
Tom Dunbar, W6ESL, wrote, " I don't see Lee de Forest on the list, who by his own account, invented just about everything, and was the 'father of radio broadcasting.' " Yes, we missed Mr. Lee, so we correct our error this week by directing your attention to the Lee de Forest Web page.
Kirk Morrison, KA4PXK, responded to the question, "Who invented radio?" with "All of them, and Marconi figured out how to market it, is my opinion. They all improved the status quo and then Marconi ran with it while the inventors were trying to figure out what they had..."
Finally, John Berry, G1WOS, made an excellent point. He wrote, "To me 'radio' is a natural electromagnetic phenomena. Who discovered it becomes the question. Then you can ask who 'invented' broadcasting?"
Maybe next week.
Until next time, keep on surfin'.
Editor's note:
Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, has been a QST
writer for over 25 years, an Amateur Radio operator for over 35 years, and a
Boston Red Sox fan for over 45 years. As a result, instead of transmitting on
the radio this week, Stan will be contemplating another long winter without a
Major League Championship in Boston's trophy room. To contact Stan, send e-mail
to wa1lou@arrl.net.
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