Alexander Popov (1859-1905)

Alexander Stepanovich Popov (Russian: Александр Степанович Попов) (March 4/16 1859 - January 13/December 31 1905/6) was a Russian physicist who publicly demonstrated the transmission of radio waves (but did not apply for a patent for this invention). Image File history File links A-S-Popov. ... March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ...

Birth

Born in the village Turinskiye Rudniki (now Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast) in the Ural mountains as the son of a priest, he became interested in natural sciences early in his youth. His father ensured that Alexander received a good education at the seminary at Perm, and later studying physics at the St. Petersburg university. After graduation in 1882 he started to work as a laboratory assistant at the university. However due to the bad funding of the university he changed to a teaching job at the Russian Navy's Torpedo School in Kronstadt on Kotlin Island. Krasnoturinsk (Russian: ) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. ... Sverdlovsk Oblast (Russian: , tr. ... Map of Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains (Russian: Уральские горы = Урал) also known simply as the Urals and as the Riphean Mountains in Greco-Roman antiquity, is a mountain range that runs roughly north and south through western Russia. ... City of Perm, Church of Ascension Perm (Russian: ) is a city in and administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia. ... Seal of Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (Санкт-Петербургский Государственный Университет) one of the oldest Russian educational institutions, established in the city of Saint Petersburg on January 28, 1724 by decree of Peter the Great. ... 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1888 map of Kronstadt bay Kronstadt (Russian: Кронштадт; also Kronshtadt, Cronstadt) is a strongly fortified Russian seaport town, located on Kotlin Island, near the head of the Gulf of Finland, at 59°5930 N and 29°4630 E. It lies 20 miles west of Saint Petersburg, of which... Kotlin (or Kettle; Finn. ...

Radio

Beginning in the early 1890s he conducted experiments along the lines of Heinrich Hertz's research. In 1894 he built his first radio receiver, which contained a coherer. Further refined as a lightning detector, he presented it to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society on May 7, 1895 — the day has been celebrated in the Russian Federation as "Radio Day". The paper on his findings was published the same year (December 15, 1895). In 1896, the article depicted Popov's invention was reprinted in 'Journal of Russian Physical and Chemical Society'. In March 1896, he effected transmission of radio waves between different campus buildings in St Petersburg. In November 1897 French entrepreneur Eugene Ducretet in his own laboratory made transmitter and receiver of wireless telegraphy. According to Ducretet, he built his devices being acknowledged about Popov's lightning detector from scientific journal. In 1898 Ducretet was manufacturing equipment of wireless telegraphy based on Popov's instructions. At the same time A.S. Popov effected ship-to-shore communication over a distance of 6 miles in 1898 and 30 miles in 1899. The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the Mauve Decade, because William Henry Perkins aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion, and also as the Gay Nineties, under the then-current usage of the word gay which referred simply to merriment and frivolity, with no... Heinrich Hertz Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (February 22, 1857 - January 1, 1894), was the German physicist for whom the hertz, the SI unit of frequency, is named. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... For the device which is a tuner (radio) and a amplifier and/or loudspeaker, see receiver (home stereo). ... The coherer was the first device used to detect radio signals in wireless telegraphy. ... May 7 is the 127th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (128th in leap years). ... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Radio Day (Russian: День радио), Communications Workers Day (as it is officially known in Russia) or Radio and Television Day (as it is known in Bulgaria) is a May 7 commemoration of the invention of radio, as reckoned by an 1895 demonstration of Alexander Popov. ... It has been suggested that Entrepreneurial mindset be merged into this article or section. ... Antenna tower of Crystal Palace transmitter, London A transmitter (sometimes abbreviated XMTR) is an electronic device which with the aid of an antenna propagates an electromagnetic signal such as radio, television, or other telecommunications. ... The word receiver has a number of different meanings: In communications and information processing, a receiver is the recipient (observer) of a message (information), which is sent from a source (object). ... Wireless telegraphy is the practice of remote writing (see telegraphy) without the wires normally involved in an electrical telegraph. ... A Device can be taken to mean: an electrical device designed to carry power, but not use it. ...

In 1900 radio station established under Popov's instructions on Hogland island (Suursaari) provided a two-way communication by wireless telegraphy between Russian navy base and crew of the battleship General-Admiral Apraksin. The battleship run aground Gogland island in the Gulf of Finland in November, 1899. The crew of the Apraksin was not in immediate danger, but the water in the Gulf was beginning to freeze. If the ship survived without serious damage until spring, it would likely be crushed by moving ice floes. Due to bad weather and bureaucratic red tape, the crew of Apraksin to establish a wireless station on Gogland Island did not arrive there until January of 1900. By February 5, however, messages were being received reliably. The wireless messages were relayed to Gogland Island by a station some 25 miles away at Kotka on the Finnish coast. Kotka was selected as the location for the wireless relay station because it was the point closest to Gogland Island served by telegraph wires connected to Russian naval headquarters. 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday. ... Hogland (Russian: Гогланд; Finnish: Suursaari; Swedish: Hogland) is an island in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, located some 180 km west of Saint Petersburg and 35 km away from the coast of Finland. ... Count Theodore Apraxin Count Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin (also Apraxin, Russian: Фёдор Матвеевич Апраксин) (October 27, 1661 - November 10, 1728, Moscow) was one of the first Russian admirals who governed Estonia and Karelia in 1712-1723, presided over the Russian Admiralty since 1718 and commanded the Baltic Fleet since 1723. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to the city of Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. ... 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... An icebreaker navigates through young (1 year) sea ice Sea ice is formed from ocean water that freezes. ... Kotka (finnish Eagle) is a town and municipality of Finland. ... The Admiralty tower (1806-23) is the focal point of St Petersburg downtown: three main avenues converge nearby. ...

By the time the Apraksin was freed from the rocks by the icebreaker Yermak at the end of April, 440 official telegraph messages had been handled by the Gogland Island wireless station. Besides Apraksin's crew, more than 50 lives of Finnish fishermen, which were stranded on a piece of drift ice in the Gulf of Finland, were saved by icebreaker Yermak because of distress telegrams sent by wireless telegraphy. At the very same time, Guglielmo Marconi was making his first experiments of signal transmission. In 1900, Popov stated (in front of the Congress of Russian Electrical Engineers), Yermak (Ермак) (sometimes spelled Ermak) was the first true icebreaker constructed for Russia under the supervision of Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov. ... Drift ice consists of slabs of ice that float on the surface of the water in cold regions. ... Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Marchese Marconi, GCVO (25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer and Nobel laureate of partially Irish descent, known for the development of a practical wireless telegraphy system commonly known as the radio. Marconi was President of the Accademia dItalia and a member...

"[...] the emission and reception of signals by Marconi by means of electric oscillations [was] nothing new. In America, the famous engineer Nikola Tesla carried the same experiments in 1893." ^[1]

In 1901 Alexander Popov was appointed as professor at the Electrotechnical Institute which now bears his name. In 1905 he was elected as the director of the institute. This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

Death

In 1905 he became seriously ill, after being very uneasy about the suppression of a student movement. He died of a brain hemorrhage on December 31, 1905 which corresponds to January 13, 1906 in the Gregorian calendar. Student movements accompany university life since the nineteenth century. ... A cerebral hemorrhage is a condition in the brain in which a blood vessel leaks. ... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

See also

• Invention of radio

In the history of radio and development of wireless telegraphy, there are multiple claims to the invention of radio. ...

References and resources

Citations

1. ^ "The Guglielmo Marconi Case; Who is the True Inventor of Radio".

General

• Alexander Popov: Russia's Radio Pioneer by James P. Rybak
• Short biographies of Popov
• Alexander Stepanovich Popov : Life and Inventions
• Lightning detector and radiostations of Popov's design : history of manufacturing- article in Russian