Overview
By 1897 Guglielmo Marconi had transformed James Clerk Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic waves into a workable wireless telegraphy system, and by 1907 Lee de Forest had invented the audion, a feedback amplifier and oscillator that opened the way to practical radio transmission. Fifteen years after Marconi's invention, wireless had become an essential means of communication, as well as a hobby for many. This book offers a new perspective on the early days of wireless communication. Drawing on archival evidence and work in the history and sociology of science and technology, it examines the substance and context of both experimental and theoretical aspects of engineering and scientific practices in the first years of this technology. It offers new insights into the relationship between Marconi and his scientific advisor, the physicist John Ambrose Fleming (inventor of the vacuum tube). It includes the full story of the infamous 1903 incident in which Marconi's opponent Nevil Maskelyne interfered with Fleming's public demonstration of Marconi's syntonic (tuning) system at the Royal Institution by sending derogatory messages from his own transmitter. The analysis of the Maskelyne affair highlights the struggle between Marconi and his opponents, the efficacy of early syntonic devices, Fleming's role as a public witness to Marconi's private experiments, and the nature of Marconi's ""shows."" It also provides a rare case study of how the credibility of an engineer can be created, consumed, and suddenly destroyed. The book concludes with a discussion of de Forest's audion and the shift from wireless telegraphy to radio.
Full Product Details
Author: Sungook Hong ,
Jed Z. Buchwald (Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Professor of History, California Institute of Technology)
Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
Imprint: MIT Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.10cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.513kg
ISBN: 9780262082983
ISBN 10: 0262082985
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 28 September 2001
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: Out of stock
Reviews
<p> This is a carefully drawn and well-written study that sheds new light onan old but central story. Communications Booknotes Quarterly
Historians of science and technology will regard this book as the definitive work on the scientific underpinnings and technological development of wireless in its first fifteen years. David Hochfelder Business History Review This is a carefully drawn and well-written study that sheds new light on an old but central story. Communications Booknotes Quarterly
Author Information
Sungook Hong is Associate Professor at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto.
