Radio emerged in the 1890s from the discovery of electromagnetic waves. James Clerk Maxwell had predicted them in the 1860s and Heinrich Hertz first produced and detected them in the 1880s. In 1894 the British physicist Oliver Lodge demonstrated wireless signalling at a lecture, and in the same year the young Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi began experiments near Bologna, transmitting signals across increasing distances. After moving to England, Marconi set up a company, and in 1901 he reported receiving a signal sent across the Atlantic. Other pioneers, such as Nikola Tesla, Alexander Popov and Jagadish Chandra Bose, contributed to the technology. Radio was first used for ship communication, and from the 1920s it developed into a mass medium for broadcasting news, music and entertainment.
Before and after
- 1 January 1894Birth of Satyendra Nath Bose
- 1894Launch of Billboard
- 1894Publication of Pyramid Texts
- 1894Discovery of argon
- 1894Radio
- 10 February 1894Birth of Harold Macmillan
- 3 April 1894Birth of Nikita Khrushchev
- 16 April 1894Founding of Manchester City F.C.
- 27 May 1894Birth of Louis-Ferdinand Céline
More in Art, literature & culture
- 1792Publication of Dream of the Red Chamber
- 5 May 1821Founding of The Guardian
- 7 April 1837Publication of The Little Mermaid
- 21 February 1848Publication of The Communist Manifesto
- 18 September 1851Founding of The New York Times
- 1857Rise of Symbolism
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.