The complete history of communications dates back to prehistoric times when cavemen grunted sounds to each
other, but that is not the beginning of the timeline we are concerned with on RF Cafe. Here it is the earliest
use of electrical signals for transmitting data between two or more points either by conduction through cables
or by radiation through the air. According to most accounts, Stephan Gray was the first, in 1729, to accomplish
such a feat. From there we eventually got the telegraph, the telephone, and then radio and cellphones (which are,
or course, themselves radios), and of course the Internet.
The table below summarizes many of the major technological advancements in the evolution of electrical communications.
| 1729 |
Discovery that electricity can be transmitted |
Stephan Gray |
| 1746 |
Electrometer measuring device invented |
Gralath |
| 1831 |
Electromechanical generator invented |
Michael Faraday |
| 1844 |
Telegraph and Morse Code developed |
Samuel Morse |
| 1847 |
Boolean algebra developed |
George Boole |
| 1858 |
Transatlantic cable laid |
Cyrus Field |
| 1876 |
Bell telephone system established |
|
| 1895 |
Photographic film developed |
Eastman |
| 1897 |
Ship-to-shore wireless
transmission demonstrated |
Guglielmo Marconi |
| 1900 |
Speech
transmitted by wireless method |
Landell de Moura |
| 1901 |
Transatlantic wireless
message Spark-gap transmitter |
|
| 1904 |
Crystal radio detector patented |
J.C. Bose |
| 1915 |
Transatlantic radio telegraphy message from the U.S. |
|
| 1917 |
Electric wave filter |
Campbell |
| 1920 |
Commercial radio broadcast (KDKA, Pittsburgh, PA) Superheterodyne circuit developed |
Armstrong |
| 1923 |
Iconoscope television camera tube invented |
Zworykin |
| 1929 |
Kinescope (TV picture tube) invented |
Zworykin |
| 1930 |
radar system demonstrated |
Blair |
| 1931 |
Oscilloscope invented |
Allen DuMont |
| 1934 |
Telecommunications Act of 1934 |
|
| 1937 |
Klystron tube developed |
|
| 1939 |
Television broadcast by NBC |
|
| 1941 |
FM broadcasting begins in United States |
|
| 1942 |
Magnetic recording tape invented ENIAC electronic computer |
|
| 1948 |
Transistor developed at Bell Labs |
|
| 1951 |
UNIVAC 1 computer introduced |
|
| 1953 |
Early laser demonstrated |
Zeigler |
| 1955 |
Varactor diode developed |
|
| 1956 |
Electronic movie camera (Bell and Howell) |
|
| 1957 |
Sputnik satellite launched (Russian) |
|
| 1958 |
Integrated circuit developed Stereo broadcasting |
|
| 1962 |
Light-emitting diode (LED) introduced Telstar communication satellite |
|
| 1963 |
Commercial mini-computer |
|
| 1966 |
Magnetic bubble memory developed |
Andrew Bobeck |
| 1970 |
Arpanet introduced (early version of Internet) |
VP Algore |
| 1971 |
Microprocessor developed Hand-held calculator introduced |
|
| 1975 |
Home video tape recorder introduced |
|
| 1977 |
Fiber optic communications for regular telephone service |
|
| 1996 |
Telecommunications Act of 1996 established |
|
| 1999 |
RF Cafe established |
Kirt Blattenberger |