No close family anniversaries. Two milestones in the early history of radio technology: On this date in 1896, at Toynbee Hall, London, Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of his radical invention, transmitting information through the use of electromagnetic radiation. Exactly five years later, on 12 December 1901, the first radio signals were transmitted and received across the Atlantic Ocean, in another of Marconi’s demonstrations. This principle is the force behind not only radio and television broadcasting and communication, but also radar, cellular phones, wifi, bluetooth, automatic garage door openers, etc, etc, etc. Thanks, Guglielmo!
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And, on those very radio waves, you may have heard the crooning of “Old Blue Eyes,” Frank Sinatra, born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on this date in 1915.
