I was checking some of the websites I normally look at early this morning and an article on the rtl-sdr.com website caught my interest. Their latest article was "Transmitting radio waves without power", and this was its first sentence... "Researchers have discovered a way to transmit information wirelessly without power", and the equipment used was passive microwave circuitry. I sort of chuckled to myself having remembered that this was already accomplished back in the early 19th century.I distinctly remember reading about experimental work back then that used two long vertical wires held aloft (most likely by balloons) and spaced a distance apart on hilltops. A ground connection was established at each end and a connection from ground to antenna was made at one end using a switch. The experimenters found that they could detect a transfer of energy at the other wire by closing that switch and a deflection of a compass needle would occur at the other station. The experimenters found that by using identical inductances at each station, they could increase their distances of wireless effect (tuning). I don't remember if the names of the experimenters were recorded for posterity since I no longer have the books at hand.
I was going to respond to that article in their comment section after finding my information on the 'net. To my surprise, I found no trace of it in searching, using as many key words as I could think of. Here's a few obsevations of my seach attempt:
Marconi is basically given the credit for inventing radio. It isn't actually true, but he was the corporate favored guy at the time, so the mainstream media gave him the "nod"... just like they do with others in present times.
You can't use the term "wireless" to search this topic because that word has been taken over by cellphone usage and you'll get nowhere using it for early research into radio history.
This is a lesson to me how the 'net is basically re-writing history and either ignoring history or sometimes actively displacing it. I know these early experiments were covered in books I've read in the past, but unfortunately that type of technical material is forgotten if it never gets transfered to the 'net from a physical book. Maybe if I scoured the 'net for hours I could find my info but I don't have that kind of energy or time to burn.
I just thought my search was an interesting lesson that most likely transfers to many other fields that are affected when trying to study recorded history.
Ray