Electrical inventions are quickly put to everyday use, delivering lighting and appliances that transform the American household. Inquisitive inventors break new ground and prove that electrical energy moves through the air like ripples in a pond. Scientists work intently to harness these waves, successfully transmitting and receiving radio signals over long distances. Wireless radio gets its start in the shipping industry.

But after the Titanic disaster of 1912 and WWI prove its value, investors fuel exploration of wireless technology. Hobbyists embrace radio, inspiring amateur inventors and broadcasters to take to the airwaves. Free from wires, sound travels across the country reaching new audiences, the stage is set for a radio in every home.

The sounds of change fill the air!

• In 1862 James Maxwell hypothesizes that light is a wave with both electric and magnetic components.
• Heinrich Hertz confirms this theory, generating radio waves with the same properties as visible light but at a much lower frequency.
• Originally called “Herzian waves and later “wireless,” “radio” comes from “to radiate” because radio waves travel in circles like ripples in a pond.
• Cruise and shipping industry are early adopters of radio transmissions. The Titanic disaster of 1912 demonstrates importance of radio technology.
• End of the Victorian Era increases use of phonographs and music boxes for home entertainment and helps usher in the commercial use of radio.
• In 1906 Lee de Forest develops the triode vacuum tube.

Influential inventors and thinkers:

• In 1880, David Hughes first to produce and transmit radio signals
• In 1897 Guglielmo Marconi founds first commercial organization to develop radio.

Gallery Three Highlights:

• Early Herzian wave apparatus
• Early Marconi wireless sets
• The Titanic wireless room
• Original Collins Wireless Telephone