Nikola Tesla - The Founder of High-Frequency and Radio Engineering Page 15

he showed how, for the needs of radiophony, waves can be rectified and how, even over the greatest distances, interference from other stations of similar wavelength can be avoided.

The extent to which Tesla, with his genius, penetrated deeply into the secrets of nature in the field of radio technology is evidenced by one of his announcements from 1900, which forms the basis and beginning of today’s radiophony. Tesla then, on the basis of actually performed experiments, stated that with the help of his radio system not only telegraphic messages could be sent over the greatest distances on the globe, but also radiophonic productions, lectures, and music, regardless of distance. We shall briefly present this historical document here, which in short strokes shows the degree of perfection Tesla achieved in his decade-long work, developing the principles, systems, and apparatus of radio technology.

e) Tesla’s World System of Radiophony and Radiotelegraphy

The text of Tesla’s announcement from 1900 reads:

“The World Radio System is the result of many long years of research and experiments. It enables not only precise and rapid wireless transmission of every kind of signal, news, or written signs to all parts of the world, but also the connection of existing telegraphic, telephonic, and other signaling stations, without any alteration of their present equipment. This system allows any telephone subscriber on the globe to converse with any other subscriber. A small receiver the size of a pocket watch enables everyone, whether on land or at sea, to listen to lectures and music coming from any distant place. These examples are cited to give an idea of the possibilities offered by these discoveries, which annihilate distances and enable all the achievements that the human spirit invented for transmission by wires to be used now for wireless transmission. The far-reaching result of these discoveries is that any apparatus which can now be set in motion only over limited distances by means of one or more wires can now be utilized wirelessly and over unlimited distances, with the same certainty and ease. In this way not only are completely new fields of commercial exploitation opened through this ideal method of energy transmission, but old fields are also expanded to an enormous extent.”¹

This work of Nikola Tesla, merely outlined here, needs no commentary. Tesla’s achievements speak for themselves. And even if these works of Tesla were exploited by others for decades, and Tesla’s name was suppressed, truth has nonetheless prevailed, for today, both by recognized and

¹ see “Nikola Tesla und sein Werk” by eng. S. Bokšan.