On the Roots of Wireless Communications

Soon after the discovery and characterization of electromagnetic fields by Faraday and Thomson, the prediction by Maxwell that changing electrical fields will produce electromagnetic waves and, the experimental verification of their existence by Hertz, four enterprising innovators, namely, Tesla, Marconi, Fessenden, and De Forrest, and many others, designed the first generation of wireless communication systems. This article deals with some of the highlights of the key discoveries and inventions as well as the key players involved with the emergence of wireless communications.