HISTORY OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES

Perhaps the greatest achievement in physics in the 19th century was the discovery of
electromagnetic waves. The first hint was an unexpected was an unexpected connection between
electric phenomena and the velocity of light. About 150 years ago, James Clark Maxwell, an
English scientist, developed a scientific theory to explain electromagnetic waves. He noticed that
electrical fields and magnetic fields can couple together to form electromagnetic waves. Neither an
electrical field ( like the static which forms when you rub your feet on a carpet ), nor a magnetic field
( like one that holds a magnet onto your refrigerator ) will go anywhere by themselves. But, Maxwell
discovered that a CHANGING magnetic field will induce a CHANGING electric field and vice-
versa. An electromagnetic wave exists when the changing magnetic field causes a changing electric
field which then causes another changing magnetic field, and so on forever. Once created, an
electromagnetic wave will continue on forever unless it is absorbed by matter. Heinrich Hertz, a
German physicist, applied Maxwell’s theories to the production and reception of radio waves. The
unit of frequency of a radio wave – one cycle per second – is named the hertz, in honor of Heinrich
Hertz. Herts proved the existence of radio waves in the late 1880s He used two rods to serve as a
receiver and a spark gap as the receiving antennae. Where the waves were picked up, a spark would
jump. Hertz showed in his experiments that these signals possessed all of the properties of
electromagnetic waves. With this oscillator, Hertz solved two problems. First, timing Maxwell’s
waves. He had demonstrated, in the concrete, what Maxwell had only theorized – that the velocity of
radio waves was equal to the velocity of light! ( This proved that radio waves were a form of light ).
Second, Hertz found out how to make the electric and magnetic fields detach themselves from wires
and go free as Maxwell’s waves. After Maxwell and Hertz, the next physicist who continued with the
discovery of more developed magnetic waves, was Guglielmo Marconi. The Italian physicist began
his experiments when he was barely 20, building on Heinrich Hertz’s discovery of radio waves on
1888. In 1895, Marconi transmitted recognizable electronic signals from his family home in
Pontecchio to a vertical raised antenna more than a mile away. As radio transmission of telegraph
messages and, later, spoken words became more common and popular. Marconi also had the first
transatlantic Morse code transmission from England to Newfoundland through electromagnetic
waves. Reginal Fessenden’s most notable achievements include the first audio radio transmission in
1900, the first two-way transatlantic transmission in 1906 and the first broadcast of entertainment,
also in 1906. Many of these were well ahead of their time, and showed his insight, not only into the
technical aspects of radio, but also, he commercial elements as well. Philo T. Farnsworth, the next
scientist to be moving to a more developed state. He did the first all-electronic television broadcast,
only at the age of 15. Philo T. Farnsworth was the first person to solve the problem of coordinating
electronically scanned television cameras and electronically scanned television receivers that
produced clear moving images. Receiving television antennae pick up transmitted electromagnetic
waves. Electronic circuits unscramble the electromagnetic signals and convert them back into
electrical and audio impulses that mimic those originally sent out by the television camera and
microphone systems. The video impulses travel to the picture tubes, which originally comprised
electrical circuits and phosphor-covered screens divided into grids of pixels. Edwin Armstrong is
most commonly-known for inventing frequency-modulated or FM radio in 1933. Frequency
modulation or FM improved the audio signal of radio by controlling the noise static caused by
electrical equipment and the earth’s atmosphere.
REFERENCE/S: https://bit.ly/2L0zzcL