Early History.

Radio waves were discovered in 1887 when the German physicist Heinrich Hertz produced electromagnetic waves from an oscillating circuit connected to an induction coil. The waves traveled with the speed of light and could be detected (that is, received) with a simple wire loop. "Hertzian waves," as they came to be called, were promptly studied by physicists in laboratories around the world. One of these experimenters, the Italian Augusto Righi, introduced the phenomenon to his friend Guglielmo Marconi. In 1894 Marconi experimentally transmitted Hertzian waves around his own house and estate. In 1895 he tied a telegraph machine into a circuit and found he could send Morse code signals through the air: he had invented wireless telegraphy. Unable to interest the Italian government in his invention, he moved to England and established the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company (1897-1900). Aided by the English physicist Oliver Lodge...