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Vacuum Tube
Invented in 1904 by John Ambrose Fleming, vacuum tubes were a basic component for electronics throughout the first half of the 20th century, which saw the diffusion of radio, television, radar, sound, reinforcement, sound recording and reproduction, large telephone networks, analog and digital computers, and industrial process control. -
First AM Radio Broadcast
On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden used a synchronous rotary spark transmitter for the first radio program broadcast, from Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Ships at sea heard a broadcast that included Fessenden playing O Holy Night on the violin and reading a passage from the Bible. -
Mechanical Television
Mechanical-scanning methods were used in the earliest experimental television systems in the 1920s and 1930s. One of the first experimental wireless television transmissions was by John Logie Baird on November 25, 1925, in London. -
FM Radio
In 1933, FM radio was patented by inventor Edwin H. Armstrong. FM uses frequency modulation of the radio wave to reduce static and interference from electrical equipment and the atmosphere. -
Mobile Telephone Service
The Mobile Telephone Service (MTS) was a pre-cellular VHF radio system that linked to the Public Switched Telephone Network. MTS was the radiotelephone equivalent of a land dial phone service. -
Transistor Radio
Brattain and H.R. Moore made a demonstration to several of their colleagues and managers at Bell Labs on the afternoon of 23 December 1947, often given the birth date of the transistor. They became the most popular electronic communication device in history. -
Internet
January 1, 1983, researchers began to assemble the "network of networks" that became the modern Internet. The online world then took on a more recognizable form in 1990, when computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. -
Webcasting
One of the earliest instances of sequential live image broadcasting was in 1991 when a camera was set up next to the Trojan Room in the computer laboratory of the University of Cambridge. It provided a live picture every few minutes of the office coffee pot to all desktop computers on that office's network. -
Internet Radio Station
Internet radio was pioneered by Carl Malamud. In 1993, Malamud launched "Internet Talk Radio" which was the "first computer-radio talk show, each week interviewing a computer expert." -
GPS
The GPS project was launched in the United States in 1973 to overcome the limitations of previous navigation systems. The U.S. Department of Defense developed the system, which originally used 24 satellites. It was initially developed for use by the United States military and became fully operational in 1995.
