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Electronics History

       

                                   Modern Electronics began with the pioneer days of radio communications. The development of radio however was preceded by earlier experiments in electricity and magnetism. The beginning of wireless transmission for radio communications arose from work done by Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist. [In his honor, the hertz is now the standard unit for the measurement of frequency ] In 1887 he demonstrated  the effects of  electromagnetic radiation through space. Even though the distance of transmission was only a few feet, Hertz’s experiment proved that radio waves could travel from one place to another without  the need for any connecting wires between the transmitting and receiving equipment. The experiment also proved that radio waves. In fact, radio waves and light waves are both examples of electromagnetic  radiation. This form of energy combines the effect of electricity and magnetism, whereby an electromagnetic wave transmits electric energy through space.

                                                   The work of Hertz actually followed even earlier experiments. In 1820, a Danish physicist, Hans Christian Oersted , proved that an electric current produces magnetic effects .Then, in 1831, michael Faraday, a British physicist discovered that a magnet in motion can generate electricity. The motion  meets the requirement of change in the magnetic field. In 1864, another British physicist, James Clerk Maxwell, on basis of earlier  work in electricity and magnetism, predicted the electromagnetic was demonstrated later by Hertz.

                                                                In 1895, Gugliemo Marconi used a long wire as an anteena  in developing a practical radio system for very long distances. Marconi succeeded in producing wireless communications across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901.Electronic Communication remained limited, however, until Lee Deforest invented the audion tube 1906. Further  development of vacuum tubes allowed the field of  electronic communications to develop rapidly. In1948 the invention of the transistor by the three Nobel laureates-John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley at the Bell Laboratory, completely revolutionized the electronics industry .Transistor opened the floodgate to further developments in electronics. Within almost ten years of its discovery ,the process of miniaturization of electronics equipments had gained momentum. The first Integrated Circuits (IC) appeared in the market during the early sixties.   In 1920 regularly scheduled radio programs were broadcast by station KDKA. In India First Radio broadcasting started 1927, and All India Radio started in 1936. Commercial television broadcasting began officially in 1941 but did not become popular until 1945. Our present colour television system was adopted 1953.