Talks about Wireless

by Sir Oliver Lodge

Published 9 August 2012
In the 1860s, radio waves were predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in his work on electromagnetism. It took a further twenty years for the first experiments to produce a working demonstration. In this guide to radio technology, first published in 1925, eminent physicist Sir Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) provides a concise history of the development of the wireless radio, explains the theory behind it, and includes some practical tips for amateurs. Having lived through and contributed to the discovery, he explains the difficulty of the early experiments, which took place in a time when terms like 'frequency' and 'inductance', now taken for granted, did not exist in the scientific vocabulary. His first-hand account reveals the incredible efforts poured into the development of a revolutionary modern technology, rekindling the sense of wonder that once surrounded this strange new science.