# Nikola Tesla's Acievements in Radio-Did He Ever Make a Broadcast?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 7, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371 "2012-06-07T12:22:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/1 "2012-06-07T12:22:18Z")
In reading about the odd genius, it isn’t clear just how far Tesla got in radio technology.
On one hand, he did file several important patents (which were used/infringed) by his rival Marconi. Yet, when he attempted to build his own radio communications system (the famous Wardenclyff Tower, LI, NY), he never achieved anything in the way of trans-Atlantic communication.
Earlier, he did show a remote-controlled electrically propelled boat (which he controlled via a system of radio control)-this was witnessed by many people (he called this system “Telematics”)-but I can find no evidence that he went beyond this simple application.
My question: if Tesla had (in fact) mastered the basics of radio communication (in the late 1890’s), why did Marconi surpass him? As regards the Wardenclyff disaster, Tesla had the full financial backing of JP Morgan-why did he fail?
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/2 "2012-06-07T17:34:40Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> In reading about the odd genius, it isn’t clear just how far Tesla got in radio technology.
He got nowhere. In part because he didn’t even believe that radio signals existed – i.e. Hertz was mistaken and there there was no such thing as transverse-wave radiation. Tesla instead had his own concept of “Hertzian waves” that were _compression_ waves in the ether, but even these were nothing more than a curiosity, and useless for long-range communication. So Tesla never made anything close to a radio broadcast. He did make some very short-range power transmission demonstrations, sending electrical currents through the ground, and claimed he once transmitted power this way for 25 miles, but there were no witnesses. In 1919, Tesla reviewed his wild, incorrect ideas in [The True Wireless](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_True_Wireless).
> [@](#):
>
> On one hand, he did file several important patents (which were used/infringed) by his rival Marconi.
I’ll agree he had important patents in wire transmission, but not that he had any patents infringed by Marconi. Some claim that a 1943 Supreme Court case [Marconi Wireless Tel. Co. v. United States - 320 U.S. 1](http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/320/1/case.html) overturned all of Marconi’s patents and declared Tesla the “inventor of radio”, but this is nonsense. The case only mentions Tesla in passing, and the main conclusion is that Marconi’s later tuning patent had been fully anticipated by John Stone Stone.
> [@](#):
>
> Yet, when he attempted to build his own radio communications system (the famous Wardenclyff Tower, LI, NY), he never achieved anything in the way of trans-Atlantic communication.
I believe he would have been greatly offended by implying that his work had anything to do with radio – that was “the fake wireless”. Tesla’s proposed “World Power” system was supposed to transmit electrical power through the ground to distant points. It didn’t make sense and it didn’t work.
> [@](#):
>
> Earlier, he did show a remote-controlled electrically propelled boat (which he controlled via a system of radio control)-this was witnessed by many people (he called this system “Telematics”)-but I can find no evidence that he went beyond this simple application.
This was an interesting experiment, although the use of coherers as receivers made it impractical at the time. I assume he got caught up in his more grandiose schemes, and didn’t follow up on what actually was a more practical idea. By 1914, John Hays Hammond, Jr. was leading the effort in conjunction with the U.S. military – by now Hammond could use vacuum tubes, which were much more sensitive and reliable.
> [@](#):
>
> My question: if Tesla had (in fact) mastered the basics of radio communication (in the late 1890’s), why did Marconi surpass him? As regards the Wardenclyff disaster, Tesla had the full financial backing of JP Morgan-why did he fail?
Tesla hadn’t mastered radio communication, which left the door open for determined experimenters like Marconi. And with respect to the Wardenclyff power transmission work, it turned out that no amount of Morgan money could overturn the laws of physics.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/3 "2012-06-07T17:47:26Z")
> [@whitetho](#):
>
> He got nowhere. In part because he didn’t even believe that radio signals existed – i.e. Hertz was mistaken and there there was no such thing as transverse-wave radiation.
But weren’t the Maxwell Equations generally accepted by that time?
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/4 "2012-06-07T18:00:55Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> But weren’t the Maxwell Equations generally accepted by that time?
Somehow Tesla seems to have concurrently accepted Maxwell’s equations but not the validity of Hertz’s experiments. How Tesla decided that compression-waves were consistent with Maxwell I don’t know, but in conclusion to The True Wireless he stated “The Hertz wave theory of wireless transmission may be kept up for a while, but I do not hesitate to say that in a short time it will be recognized as one of the most remarkable and inexplicable aberrations of the scientific mind which has ever been recorded in history.”
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/5 "2012-06-07T19:01:56Z")
> [@whitetho](#):
>
> He got nowhere. In part because he didn’t even believe that radio signals existed – i.e. Hertz was mistaken and there there was no such thing as transverse-wave radiation. Tesla instead had his own concept of “Hertzian waves” that were _compression_ waves in the ether, but even these were nothing more than a curiosity, and useless for long-range communication. So Tesla never made anything close to a radio broadcast. He did make some very short-range power transmission demonstrations, sending electrical currents through the ground, and claimed he once transmitted power this way for 25 miles, but there were no witnesses. In 1919, Tesla reviewed his wild, incorrect ideas in [The True Wireless](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_True_Wireless).
> I’ll agree he had important patents in wire transmission, but not that he had any patents infringed by Marconi. Some claim that a 1943 Supreme Court case [Marconi Wireless Tel. Co. v. United States - 320 U.S. 1](http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/320/1/case.html) overturned all of Marconi’s patents and declared Tesla the “inventor of radio”, but this is nonsense. The case only mentions Tesla in passing, and the main conclusion is that Marconi’s later tuning patent had been fully anticipated by John Stone Stone.
> I believe he would have been greatly offended by implying that his work had anything to do with radio – that was “the fake wireless”. Tesla’s proposed “World Power” system was supposed to transmit electrical power through the ground to distant points. It didn’t make sense and it didn’t work.
> This was an interesting experiment, although the use of coherers as receivers made it impractical at the time. I assume he got caught up in his more grandiose schemes, and didn’t follow up on what actually was a more practical idea. By 1914, John Hays Hammond, Jr. was leading the effort in conjunction with the U.S. military – by now Hammond could use vacuum tubes, which were much more sensitive and reliable.
> Tesla hadn’t mastered radio communication, which left the door open for determined experimenters like Marconi. And with respect to the Wardenclyff power transmission work, it turned out that no amount of Morgan money could overturn the laws of physics.
Thanks for the info. In all the books I’ve read, I believe that Tesla sold Wardenclyff as a communications system. JP Morgan was jealous of Marconi, and wanted to muscle in on the radio communications business. As I understand it, Morgan had backed Tesla (in the construction of the AC Niagara Falls power station), and felt that funding Tesla would give him some leverage in wireless (whether he actually expected Wardenclyff to work is not clear)-but in any event, the money lent to Tesla was chicken feed.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/6 "2012-06-07T21:01:56Z")
Tesla never had “the full financial backing of JP Morgan” nor was this ever stated in any of the major biographies of him that I’ve read. Morgan may not have fully understood the science (if any) of what Tesla was trying to do, but he perfectly well understood the concept of pouring money down a rathole and he stopped the funding even though Tesla pleaded and nagged for years thereafter. It’s also been pointed out in every biography that Wardenclyff was not a radio system but a power transmission system; it never could have worked no matter how much money was spent on it although some adulating books waffle on this. The patents that the Supreme Court cited were filed for power transmission purposes not for radio, although that was a consequence.
Those same biographies, if read closely - even the adulating ones - show that Tesla did not understand modern physics and that the world passed him by after about 1899. He never made it into the 20th century with any projects that panned out. Tesla believers want to believe, but there’s no there there.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/7 "2012-06-07T21:42:08Z")
Information on the Wardenclyff project is hard to find. As I said, my understanding was that it was supposed to be some kind of CW radio transmitter. As far as transmitting power, I have never read anything that mentioned that purpose.
I did read that Morgan’s estate attempted to collect from Tesla (for the funds advanced)-but by that time, Tesla was broke.
Regarding Tesla’s activities after 1900-he did make some money on other inventions, but it is true to say that his creative peak had passed.
Tesla’s patented speedometer were used in automobiles up to the 1980’s, so he must have gotten patent royalties on hat, for quite some time.
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 7, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/8 "2012-06-07T23:43:38Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> Tesla’s patented speedometer were used in automobiles up to the 1980’s, so he must have gotten patent royalties on hat, for quite some time.
Cite that it was used until the 1980s?
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### Author:  [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/9 "2012-06-08T02:53:53Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> Information on the Wardenclyff project is hard to find. As I said, my understanding was that it was supposed to be some kind of CW radio transmitter. As far as transmitting power, I have never read anything that mentioned that purpose.
It’s mentioned in the [first sentence of the Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower).
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/10 "2012-06-08T12:22:12Z")
> [@Silophant](#):
>
> It’s mentioned in the [first sentence of the Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower).
I don’t necessarily accept Wikipedia as true. Having Wardenclyff as a wireless electricity transmitter doesn’t make much sense-it wasn’t near any hydroelectric power source, and it was in a remote part of LI.
So, I think Tesla had represented it (to J.P. Morgan) as a communications station (of some kind).
As for the Tesla rotating magnet speedometer, my 1988 GMC truck has one. (These were replaced by electronic versions in the 1990’s).
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/11 "2012-06-08T14:12:06Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> As for the Tesla rotating magnet speedometer, my 1988 GMC truck has one. (These were replaced by electronic versions in the 1990’s).
[The History of Speedometers](http://www.ehow.com/info_8601551_history-speedometers.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Inventor Nikola Tesla received the first patent for a type of speedometer that was based on a rotating shaft-speed indicator in 1916. But Arthur P. Warner, the original founder of the many incarnations of Warner Electric, claims the rights to the first invention of a speedometer for the automobile. Warner Electric still services the automotive industry by providing industrial clutches and brakes, along with sensors, switches and tensioner systems. …
>
> Arthur P. Warner, holder of more than 100 patents – according to Warner Electric’s website – invented a speed-measuring device for industrial cutting tools, called the cut-meter. He then adapted this technology for the automobile. Several different types of speedometers were available to automobile manufacturers, so A. P. Warner set out on a marketing campaign to promote his speedometer to the public. According to the How It’s Made website, Warner’s “design enjoyed considerable success.” After the end of World War I, the Warner Instrument Company placed nine out of every 10 speedometers in automobiles.
Sure looks like he didn’t make much money on that patent.
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/12 "2012-06-08T19:41:41Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> [The History of Speedometers](http://www.ehow.com/info_8601551_history-speedometers.html)
>
> Sure looks like he didn’t make much money on that patent.
Well, Tesla licensed the speedometer to Waltham Precision, Inc., who made them for many years (most were sold to Ford Motor Co.)
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [June 8, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nikola-teslas-acievements-in-radio-did-he-ever-make-a-broadcast/624371/13 "2012-06-08T20:06:50Z")
> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> As far as transmitting power, I have never read anything that mentioned that purpose.
We’ve had a few threads on this here. Consensus was that if he could prevent the power from being reduced over three dimensions, it could be used for a variety of commercial and military uses,especially in the early decades of the 20th century.