-
99,999 BCE
Waves start
Beginning of time and matter.
Scientists generally agree that the age of the universe began about 14 billion years ago. -
70,000 BCE
Communication
At about 400 million years ago, animals started developing that could communicate with one another through either sight or sound. (both of which utilize waves) -
38,000 BCE
Musical Instrument
The earliest known instruments, these flutes mark the beginning of humans manipulating sound waves using something other than their own voice.
National Geographic Article -
550 BCE
Pythagoras
Pythagoras looks a little closer at how vibrating strings produce sound, and starts to try to come up with a mathematical relationship with string length. -
"Bell in a Bell Jar"
Robert Boyle conducted an experiment which proved that sound cannot travel in a vacuum.
Robert Boyle-Famous Scientist -
First measurement of the speed of light
Ole Romer made observations of Jupiters moons that led him to believe that light did not travel instantaneously. It had a finite speed! Rømer's determination of the speed of light -
Velocity of Sound in air
Isaac Newton published his "Principia", in which he calculated the velocity of sound in air. -
-
-
Speed of sound in water
Charles Sturm and Jean-Daniel Colladon complete the first successful experiment to determine the speed of sound in water as opposed to air.
Charles Sturm Wikipedia -
Electromagnetic waves
James Maxwell successfully predicts oscillating waves in the electric and magnetic fields. History of electromagnetic theory -
Light is an EM wave
Heinrich Hertz (does that name sound familiar? Frequency anyone?) experimentally proves Maxwell's work and they conclude that light and electromagnetic waves are one and the same. Light -
First Radio Communication
Guglielmo Marconi built the first device to communicate over distance using electromagnetic waves. -
First Television
Philo Farnsworth's camera transmitted the first electronic image leading to modern television. History of Television -
Satellite Communications
The first communications satellite, Telstar, is launched into orbit and the first television and phone calls are relayed through space. It's still in orbit today, although it's no longer functional. -
First Cellular phone system
The first cellular phone system was deployed in Tokyo, Japan in 1979. America got it's first in 1983. All the mobile phones previous to that were simply radios and didn't use modern "cellular" technology.
