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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla's True Wireless

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless
© 2017 A. David Wunsch

We examine an article written by Nikola Tesla entitled “The True Wireless,” which
appeared in the Electrical Experimenter magazine in May of 1919. His essay is analyzed
as an example of the inability of a scientist or inventor to assimilate a paradigm
shift in his discipline, and we use the language and thought of Thomas Kuhn in this
discussion. The paradigm shift in question was created by Maxwell and Hertz in the
latter third of the 19th century, a shift that explained the existence and generation
of electromagnetic waves—the basis for wireless telegraphy and eventually radio.
We also focus on the magazine in which Tesla’s piece appeared and consider why the
article might have been written and accepted for publication.

“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.”
—Nikola Tesla, “The True Wireless” 1919

“… the man who continues to resist after his whole profession has been converted has
ipso facto ceased to be a scientist.”
—Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 1962

The Paradigm
For historians of radio and the wireless Sunday supplements of newspapers,
telegraph, one of the strangest docu- where he described his latest proposed
ments they are apt to encounter is an inventions such as a weapon that would
article entitled “The True Wireless” that make war obsolete by creating an enor-
was published in the May 1919 issue mous tidal wave.1
of the popular magazine, the Elec- Although his reputation as an
trical Experimenter. The author was inventor may have faded, he persists
the renowned Serbian-born inventor, today as a cult figure. A web search
Nikola Tesla (1856–1943). Tesla spent will lead to sites proclaiming that he
most of his professional life in the invented radio, radar, x-rays, alternat-
United States, and by 1919 he was just ing current, the laser, the transistor,
past the peak of his fame—a man as and limitless free energy. His name
nearly well known to the general public also endures as the brand of a pioneer-
as Edison. He was a contributor to the ing high-priced electrical automobile.

Volume 30, 2017 1

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

There is some irony in this—the car is of science Thomas Kuhn has described
powered by batteries that supply direct as a “paradigm shift.”
current (DC), while Tesla’s great accom- This term first appears in Kuhn’s
plishment resides in his contribution book The Structure of Scientific Revo-
to the generation and distribution of lutions published in 1962. The work is
polyphase alternating current (AC). among the most cited scholarly books
He developed an ingenious device, the produced in the last half of the 20th cen-
induction motor, that is ideally suited tury and has been in print in various
to polyphase AC because of the ease editions for over 50 years. We refer here
with which such current creates the to the 3rd edition of 1996.3 The expres-
rotating magnetic field required by sion paradigm shift has entered every-
many motors. day language, and its use has steadily
Readers of this paper should have increased since Kuhn coined the
at their disposal a copy of “The True phrase. The concept will be employed
Wireless,” which can be found on the here in the discussion of Tesla’s paper.
Internet.2 Note that the insert appear- What does Kuhn mean by this
ing in the article was written by the term? In the sciences, he asserts that
magazine’s editor, Hugo Gernsback, a paradigm derives from “universally
who asserted, “Dr. Tesla shows us that recognized scientific achievements that
he is indeed the ‘Father of wireless.’” for a time provide model problems and
Tesla is referred to variously as an engi- solutions to a community of practitio-
neer, physicist, scientist, and inventor ners.” The word “model” is key here.
on many websites, including the Wiki- The Greek-Egyptian astronomer Ptol-
pedia, which contain his biography. emy (100–170 AD) had a model of what
Historically, this blurring of occupa- we now call our solar system: his earth
tions has a distinguished lineage: Gali- was at its center, and the sun revolved
leo, for example, invented telescopes around the earth. The concept has a
and other instruments and was also limited use—it does explain sunrise
an astronomer, and the transistor was and sunset, but as mankind’s knowl-
invented by men trained as scientists, edge of the planets and stars increased,
not engineers. it became unworkable. Copernicus,
Galileo, Kepler, and Newton killed the
A Paradigm Missed old model—their work, which began
Had Tesla’s paper appeared fifteen years circa 1540 and occupied nearly two
before—circa 1904—its content would centuries, led to a classic paradigm
be unremarkable. Coming as it does in shift. The shift describes the discarding
1919, just before the era of broadcast of an old model whose use is unfruit-
radio, it becomes useful as a notable ful and untenable in favor of a new
example, in the field of science and paradigm that more gracefully and
technology, of an inventor’s failure to convincingly describes recent experi-
grasp what the distinguished historian mental evidence.

2 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

For our present discussion, the order of meters, possessed a measur-

important paradigm shift began with able electromagnetic field, and to a fair
the Scotsman James Clerk Maxwell approximation moved at the known
(1831–1879). Consider what Nobel speed of light.6 These waves could be
Laureate Richard Feynman said reflected, polarized, and diffracted—
about Maxwell’s work of the period just as visible light, whose properties
1860–1873: “From a long view of the had been studied for several centuries.
history of mankind—seen from, say, ten Had the Nobel Prize been awarded in
thousand years from now—there can the lifetimes of Maxwell and Hertz,
be little doubt that the most significant they would surely have been win-
event of the 19th century will be judged ners. Hertz’s work was published in
as Maxwell’s discovery of the laws of the period 1887–1891 and served as a
electrodynamics.” 4 stimulus to such people as Guglielmo
Maxwell produced a paradigm, Marconi, Oliver Lodge, and Karl F.
or a model, for light: it was an elec- Braun, who sought to employ Hertz’s
tromagnetic wave having transverse discovery in the field of wireless teleg-
electric and magnetic fields. The theory raphy. The story is well told in the book
described a wave moving at the speed of by Aitken.7
light that could be generated by electri- Tesla recounts a meeting with
cal means, and it did not specify a wave- Hertz in the document we are study-
length—it could be, for example, 700 ing: he traveled to Hertz’s laboratory in
nanometers (like visible light, whose Bonn, Germany, in 1892 and describes
wavelengths were known in Maxwell’s in “The True Wireless” an unfruitful
era), or around 300 meters (like broad- encounter where he informs Hertz
cast AM radio of our time). that he had been unable to reproduce
In the late 17th century, Newton his results. If we believe Tesla, the two
had maintained that light consisted of parted “sorrowfully” with our narrator
streams of particles, which he named subsequently regretting his trip.8 He
corpuscles; his prestige was such that his also informs us that later, even hav-
model still had some adherents as late ing developed a “wireless transmitter
as Maxwell’s era, although there was which enabled me to obtain electro-
much evidence favoring a wave theory. magnetic activities of many millions
To further complicate matters, others [sic] of horse-power,” he was unable
analyzed light as a ray that describes to “prove that the disturbances ema-
the path of the light energy.5 nating from the oscillator were ether
We now come to a narrative famil- vibrations akin to those of light…”
iar to many readers. In the period Unable to generate what soon became
1886–1889, the German physicist known as Hertzian waves, and having
Heinrich Hertz carried out a series of read articles describing such waves over
experiments in which he generated a the eighteen-year period preceding this
wave that exhibited wavelengths on the article, he remarks, “The Hertz-wave

Volume 30, 2017 3

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

theory, by its fascinating hold on the The terminology in the discourse of

imagination, has stifled creative effort radio and wireless telegraphy engineer-
in the wireless art and retarded it for ing had evolved since Hertz’s work and
twenty-five years.” the growth of international wireless
By the time Tesla wrote his article, telegraphy.
wireless telegraphy had been a business We now employ the Google Book’s
for nearly 20 years—and had grown Ngram Viewer, a piece of free Internet
into a very big one at that. When the software that quantifies how frequently
United States entered World War I in a word turns up in a large number of
1917, the Marconi Wireless Telegra- books during a specified time period.
phy Company of America (American The output of this software is a graph
Marconi) had outfitted 582 wireless showing the number of mentions in
stations on ships and possessed 45 books versus time (in years) for a word
coastal stations for ship-to-shore and or phrase supplied. The frequency of
international communication.9 The use of the term Hertzian waves over
Navy took these over at the beginning more than a century is shown in
of the war. At the cessation of the war, Fig. 1. We see the term gaining cur-
British Marconi was eager to buy exclu- rency beginning with Hertz’s famous
sive rights to the Alexanderson alterna- experiments and reaching a peak at
tors from General Electric; these were about the time of Tesla’s paper. It is
powerful and efficient successors to the not hard to understand that it subse-
spark gap and arc transmitters used quently lost popularity. A search of
earlier in wireless telegraphy. Initially, the term electromagnetic waves, which
they planned to spend over $3M on 24 ultimately replaced Hertzian waves, is
alternators and employ them both in shown in Fig. 2.
their own corporation and in Ameri- As it became clear to the engineer-
can Marconi.10 If, as Tesla alleges, the ing community that the waves gener-
big business of wireless telegraphy did ated by Hertz were merely a part of the
not employ Hertzian waves, how did it electromagnetic spectrum—one which
operate? He specifically denies that the was to become increasingly exploited
“disturbances” (a name he uses in lieu by broadcast AM radio, television, and
of Hertz’s waves) emanating from an FM broadcasting—the locution Hertz-
oscillator “were ether vibrations akin ian waves would have seemed anach-
to that of light.” ronistic. It is evident that at the time
It is interesting to examine the lan- of Tesla’s writing, the term “Hertzian
guage of his paper. He speaks of “some waves” had already been eclipsed by
kind of space waves” and “transversal “electromagnetic waves.” Incidentally,
vibrations in the ether,” and except to an Ngram of the term “radio waves”
disparage them, he does not refer to displays a curve much like that for elec-
Hertz’s (or Hertzian) waves. By 1919, tromagnetic waves. Both gained favor
his words and thinking were archaic. at the same time.

4 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

Fig. 1. Frequency of use of the term “Hertzian waves.” (Google Ngram)

Fig. 2. Frequency of use of the term “electromagnetic waves.” (Google Ngram)

Tesla “Disproves” Hertzian Theory function—must function—as this lone

wire. He seeks to explain this with a
Electricity and Hydraulic Analogies labored hydraulic (fluid) analogy that is
How did Tesla explain wireless commu- illustrated in Fig. 4 of his paper, which
nication without Hertzian waves or its is reproduced here as Fig. 3.
synonyms? The answer is fascinating. Of course, you can send a distur-
He used a fishy version of alternating bance down a water filled pipe with-
circuit theory. A close reading of “The out employing a return circuit—just
True Wireless” reveals that he promoted strike one end with a hammer. His
a form of circuit theory employing but analogy proves nothing, but its use
a single wire—in other words, there is is understandable. When Tesla was
no real circuit such as those who under- in college in the late 1870’s and early
stood the subject are accustomed to. He 1880’s, alternating current theory was a
also maintains that the earth itself can new and difficult subject.11 If he learned

Volume 30, 2017 5

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

Fig. 3. Tesla’s fluid “circuit.” (True Wireless, Fig. 4)

it there, or, as seems likely, on his own it had no validity. In fact, one wonders
after college, he would have encoun- why no one asked him if the return
tered textbooks that sought to treat wire in the circuit could be eliminated,
this discipline using analogies drawn then why not also the wire that carries
from hydraulics—a much older and the current that is outgoing from the
better-understood subject.12 It was not generator. Had he taken that radical
uncommon then to use the word “pres- step, he might have been on his way
sure,” taken from fluid mechanics, to understanding communication
where we now use “voltage” or “elec- between two antennas in the absence
trical potential.” Such analogies, which of any earth.14
might employ water wheels to repre- In criticizing Tesla for his wrong-
sent inductors and elastic diaphragms headed model, are we in fact guilty
as proxies for capacitors, convey only of what has become known as Whig
an intuitive feeling for AC circuits history? The term Whig history was
and are of no use for communication introduced by the distinguished Eng-
systems employing electromagnetic lish historian Sir Herbert Butterfield
waves.13 in 1931. It can refer to an unfair judg-
Thus, Tesla attempted to apply a ment of historical figures and their
dubious electric circuit approach where actions that are based on our present

6 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

knowledge of what is humane and pro- And to disparage Maxwell for his fre-
gressive and acceptable. For example, to quent use of the term ether—when we
condemn Thomas Jefferson for writing know that the concept is not valid—
in the Declaration of Independence “All would be Whig history. I will seek to
men are created equal” (where are the explain in what follows that I have not
women?) would be to engage in Whig fallen into the trap of Whig history in
history. In the sciences, Whig history discussing Tesla.
has a similar meaning: it would be to
criticize a scientist or inventor of the Influence of Mountains or Obstacles
past for failing to use concepts that we Tesla seeks to disprove Hertzian wave
now take for granted.15 theory as a means of communica-
From our present perspective, Tes- tion with several examples. Consider
la’s not using a wave model to explain his Fig. 17, reproduced here as Fig. 4.
radio seems bizarre, but given what was Tesla claims that “unless the receiver
known in 1919, are we being unfair and is within the electrostatic influence
leaving ourselves open to the accusation of the mountain range”—in what we
of Whiggishness? An example of Whig would now call “the near field of the
history of science would be to condemn antenna”—the signals at the receiver
Ptolemy for his earth centered view of “are not appreciably weakened by
astronomy. Given the tools at his dis- the presence of the latter because the
posal, his mistake is understandable. signal passes under it [italics added]

Fig. 4. Tesla analyzes the effect of an obstacle. (True Wireless, Fig. 17)

Volume 30, 2017 7

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

and excites the [receiving] circuit in by the mountain can be attacked using
the same way as if it is attached to an the method of images. The problem
energized wire.” No radio propagation becomes that of a plane wave incident
engineer would have accepted such an upon a sphere. This problem had been
argument in 1919. Indeed, the receiver solved in the period 1908–9 by Debye
might well detect the transmitted sig- and Mie and would also show a signal
nal, but not for the reasons stated by in the optical shadow cast by the hemi-
Tesla. No model of wave propagation spherical mountain.19
asserts that the signal goes under the In the period beginning in 1889 and
mountain.16 ending in the era of Tesla’s writing, the
Following the work of Hertz, it was Scottish mathematician H. M. Macdon-
apparent that laws of optics could be ald had treated waves from a Hertzian
applied to electrically generated waves. dipole diffracted from the earth, which
There would have been no problem in he modeled as a perfectly conducting
explaining the reception of waves by a sphere.20 His work was improved by
detector lying on the shaded side of the the great French scientist and phi-
mountain—it would be described as losopher, Henri Poincaré, who in the
Fresnel diffraction, a theory put forth period 1909–1912 converted Macdon-
by the eponymous French physicist ald’s series of Bessel functions into a
in the period 1815–1818.17 The theory definite integral that could be better
asserts, in part, that the greater the evaluated. The German mathematical
wavelength used, the stronger the sig- physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, unlike
nal that makes its way into the opti- his predecessors, treated the earth as
cal “dark side,” provided the distance an imperfectly conducting surface,
from the diffracting edge (here, the although he simplified matters by mak-
mountain top) is small measured in ing the earth flat. He placed a verti-
wavelengths.18 Given the long wave- cal, electrically short dipole above the
lengths employed by Tesla (10 kHz => earth and derived an expression for the
30 km. => 18 miles), a number taken resulting electric and magnetic fields.
from Fig. 1 in his article, there is no His results of 1909 were expressed in
trouble in explaining wireless recep- terms of an integral that he evaluated
tion on the far side of the mountain. By asymptotically for an observer far from
the time Tesla published this piece, the the antenna. He found that a surface
subject of diffraction of electromagnetic wave had been generated, and his the-
waves had become sophisticated and ory nicely supported that of another
had engaged the attention of a number German, Jonathan Zenneck, whose
of distinguished mathematicians. less rigorous work had led to what
If the mountain is modeled as a became known as the Zenneck wave,
hemispherical impediment to the which existed on the ground at some
wave, and if the earth is a good con- distance from the antenna. The latter
ductor, then the problem of scattering turned out to be the asymptotic solution

8 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

of Sommerfeld’s theory. In 1919, the omission of major empirical findings

German mathematician Herman Weyl contained in the famous and practi-
solved Sommerfeld’s configuration and cal Austin-Cohen formula, a concise
ended up with a different approach that expression that describes the strength
did not contain Zenneck’s wave. This of the electric field experienced by a
result caused Sommerfeld to rework his receiving antenna when both receiver
solution, and his new findings did not and transmitter are over the ocean.
agree with Zenneck. Louis Winslow Austin and Louis Cohen
In short, the first two decades of the had worked for the U.S. Navy in the
20th century was a lively and sometimes early 1910’s, making shipboard electri-
contentious period in the theory of cal measurements of the field radiated
radio wave propagation, but there is no from various transmitters manufac-
hint of this in Tesla’s paper. Nor is there tured by Reginald Fessenden’s com-
any indication in anything he wrote pany, the National Electric Signaling
that he had the sophisticated math- Company, or NESCO. By 1911, the two
ematical skills to comprehend what was men had devised a successful empirical
being written by the people cited above. formula that gives the received field.22
There were, of course, great inventors I sh 1h 2
with minimal knowledge of higher I r = 4.25 e -ad/√ λ .
dλ
mathematics (think of Edison, Morse,
Bell) but these largely belonged to the Here Ir is the current received by an
19 th century, and one does see Tesla as antenna driving an impedance of 25
part of that tradition. His clinging to ohms, Is is the transmitting antenna’s
a sketchy circuit theory explanation current, h1 and h2 are the lengths of the
seems pathetic. Incidentally, as early two vertical antennas, l is the wave-
as 1904, a textbook of Henri Poincaré length, d is the distance separating the
had addressed the primacy given to antennas, and a = .0015. Lengths are
currents flowing through the earth in in kilometers and currents in amperes.
Tesla’s model of wireless telegraphy. He The formula was effective only dur-
points out that if a coherer is placed in ing the day and was so useful that it
a hole in the ground “it will operate became the basis for testing new theo-
[as a detector of wireless telegraphy] retical predictions of received fields.
when uncovered; if the hole be filled The presence of the square root of the
with earth, the oscillations produce wavelength in the exponent was later
no effect. We must look for something derived theoretically by the English
more than earth currents to explain mathematician G. N. Watson and
the phenomena.” 21 Recall that the most published in 1919, only a few months
common detector in use at that time after Tesla’s paper. 23 Interestingly,
was the Branly coherer. Tesla, speaking of the formula, states
Putting aside theoretical consider- unequivocally “… the actions at a dis-
ations, Tesla’s paper is notable for the tance cannot be proportionate to the

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

height [length] of the antenna and the the one hand, he rejects the famous for-
current in the same,” which is in direct mula but then embraces it as a means
contradiction to what the much-used to argue against Hertzian wave theory.
equation asserts. Tesla’s statement Let us now study Fig. 18, in Tesla’s
“the current in the same” is especially paper, reproduced here in Fig. 5. He
puzzling, not only because it had been has now introduced a second moun-
established experimentally but also tain that is further from the transmitter
because he has essentially been using than the one in the previous figure. He
alternating circuit theory, in a strange argues that if Hertzian wave theory
form, and the device he is employing— were true, then the second mountain
an antenna, and a conducting earth— “could only strengthen the Hertz wave
are mathematically linear and should, [at the receiver] by reflection, but as a
according to linear circuit analysis, matter of fact it detracts greatly from
create a response in linear proportion the received impulses because the elec-
to the current exciting the antenna. trical niveau between the mountains is
Strange to say, Tesla then uses Aus- raised…” [niveau is a French word for
tin-Cohen to reject Hertzian waves, level surface].
saying that, “…I cannot agree with What Tesla fails to understand here
him [Austin] on this subject. I do not is that without knowing the wavelength
think that if his receiver was affected of the radiation, the separation of the
by Hertz waves he could ever establish two mountains, and the position of the
such relations as he has found.” So, on antenna between them, we can make

Fig. 5. Tesla considers the effect of two hills. (True Wireless, Fig. 18)

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 Wunsch

no statement about the enhancement or Kuhn tells us that if we want to see

reduction of the signal at the receiver what constitutes “normal science” and
caused by the presence of the second the paradigms it embraces, we should
mountain. In fact, using elementary look at the textbooks of that era.25 By
wave theory or a transmission line 1904, we can say confidently that the
analog, we can argue that if the two paradigm shift created by Maxwell and
mountains are separated by half a Hertz had taken hold and was part of
wavelength and if the receiver is mid- normal science. This was the date of
way between them, and if the soil is publication of Poincaré’s book, whose
of reasonably high conductivity, then chapters 7, 8 and 9 are devoted to the
we have what is called a standing wave propagation of waves along wires,
between the mountains. In this case, dielectrics, and air. It seems evident
the effect of the more distant mountain that Tesla was not reading the textbooks
is to enhance the signal at the receiver. of his epoch.
There are waves moving from right to
left and vice-versa between the moun- Tesla and Antenna Theory
tains. Such an arrangement, when set Another puzzling segment of Tesla’s
up in a room, as Hertz did in his famous anti-Hertz diatribe is his Fig. 16, shown
experiment published in 1888, is known below as Fig. 6. Tesla would have us
as an interferometer.24 believe that the antenna on the right

Fig. 6. Tesla considers a straight and bent antenna. (True Wireless, Fig. 16)

Volume 30, 2017 11

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

(which nowadays is called “an inverted is potentially quite complicated. The

L”) is just as effective as a receiver or difficulty occurs with an imperfectly
transmitter as the straight antenna conducting earth. Marconi, in 1906,
on the left. He claims that he has per- described to the Royal Society an array
formed an experiment that supports he built consisting of inverted L anten-
this conclusion. He also asserts that nas and observed that the array broad-
the experiment proves that “currents casts most effectively in the direction of
propagated through the ground, and the arrow shown below, i.e., away from
not … space waves” is the reason for the horizontal element.30 Fig. 7 is taken
true wireless telegraphy. from Principles of Wireless Telegraphy
In 1919, an understanding of the by G. W. Pierce, published in 1910.31
theory of receiving antennas was still Jonathan Zenneck, in the same era
fairly primitive.26 And it was only in as Pierce, describes the work of H. von
1924, with the work on reciprocity of Hoerschelmann, a student of Arnold
John R. Carson at Bell Labs, that the Sommerfeld, who apparently was the
tools that had been developed to ana- first to explain the directive proper-
lyze transmitting antennas could be ties of Marconi’s antenna. His earth
brought to bear on receiving anten- is assumed to be imperfectly conduct-
nas. 27 So, we must not be harsh in ing. He includes the vertical portions
condemning Tesla for his wrongful of the current induced in the earth
assertion. However, it was known as directly under the horizontal wires of
early as 1898 that if antennas are placed the array.32 The upshot is that whether
above a flat highly conducting earth, one assumes a highly conducting earth
one can invoke the method of images or one of imperfect conductivity (as is
for analyzing them.28 It was well known required for Marconi’s antenna), Tesla’s
before 1919 that if the earth is a good assertion “that the antennas can be put
conductor, the electric field of a propa- out of parallelism without noticeable
gating radio wave would be primarily change in action on the receiver” is
perpendicular to the earth, and the field utterly wrong. Marconi’s inverted L
strength would be proportional to an was constructed in the year 1905, and
integral of the current along the vertical the explanation by Hoerschelmann was
portion of the antenna.
It should have been apparent to
Tesla that if a transmitting vertical
wire antenna is small, measured in
wavelengths, and has the shape of the
antenna on the left of Fig. 6, and if it
is now bent into the shape shown on
the right, then the electric field nor- Fig. 7. Marconi’s directional inverted L antenna.
mal to a flat highly conducting earth is (G. W. Pierce, Principles of Wireless Telegraphy,
reduced.29 However, the situation here 1910, p. 298)

12 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

published in Zenneck’s book, which in the United States where typical soil
came out in German in 1912, both well conductivity, s = .005 mhos/meter and
before Tesla’s paper.33 the relative permittivity, er = 10.38 We
will assume a frequency f = 100 kHz.
Skin Effect Using the standard formula for skin
Tesla repeatedly speaks of his system depth that applies when conduction
of wireless telegraphy implemented by current greatly exceeds displacement
sending messages through the earth. current,39 we have
Here he displays his ignorance of what
is now referred to as “skin effect”: that
1
alternating currents have a marked δ=
tendency to cling to the outside (skin) √ π f μσ
of conductors. Knowledge of this goes Here d is the skin depth and m is the
back to the work of the Englishman, permeability of the soil, assumed here
Sir Horace Lamb, in 1883 and was to be nonmagnetic. The skin depth for
advanced further by his countryman, the numbers chosen here is about 22
Oliver Heaviside, in 1885.34 The results meters. It is virtually impossible for
showed that the higher the frequency the signal that Tesla imagines to pen-
in use, the greater the tendency for the etrate a mountain having these typical
current to adhere to the outside of the parameters.
conductor.
It is especially puzzling that Tesla Dismissal of Gliding Waves
does not mention this phenomenon Let us now focus on Tesla’s Fig. 13
as he took advantage of it in arranging (shown here as Fig. 8) and his accom-
for photographs of himself enveloped panying discussion. At the very top of
by sparks.35 The frequency of the gen- his figure Tesla has the caption, “Hertz’s
erator he was using was such that the waves passing off into space through
energy would not penetrate deeply into the earth’s atmosphere.” To some-
his body, which meant that although one acquainted with even elementary
he might have been burnt, he would antenna theory, the picture is a puzzle.
not have been electrocuted. In an 1893 It depicts what appears to be a vertical
lecture before the Franklin Institute antenna fed by a generator connected
in Philadelphia, he sought to explain between the base of the antenna and the
his not being shocked with a confused earth. In 1919, such an antenna would
discussion.36 likely be of small height when measured
By 1919, skin effect and the concept in the wavelengths in use. Using the
of skin depth (the depth of penetra- method of images and antenna analysis
tion of the current) would have been dating from the turn of that century,
in the better electrical engineering it should have been apparent that no
textbooks.37 We can calculate how far radiation propagates along the axis
a wave might penetrate into a mountain of the antenna; instead, the radiation

Volume 30, 2017 13

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

Fig. 8. Tesla condemns the “Gliding Wave.” (True Wireless, Fig. 13)

tends to be focused along the ground. In suggest a wave gliding along the sur-
fact, if the current in amperes along the face of the earth, provided we are close
antenna is I0 , then elementary antenna enough to the antenna to neglect the
theory establishes that the strength of earth’s curvature. This result would
the electric field is at a distance r from have certainly been known well before
the antenna, above the earth, is given by 1919. The book Robison’s Manual of
I 0 120πh Radio Telegraphy and Telephony for
Eθ = sinθ for 0 ≤ θ ≤ π / 2 ,
λr
where h is the length of the antenna,
l is the wavelength in use and r is the
distance of the observer from the
antenna.40 All the distances are in
meters. The meanings θ and Eθ should
be evident from Fig. 9.
Observe that directly above the
antenna corresponds to q =0, so that
sinq = 0, which indicates there is no
radiation normal to the earth, while
along the earth q = 90 degrees, and the
radiation is maximum, which might Fig. 9. Electric field and spherical coordinates.

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the use of Naval Electricians, published Tesla Debunks the Ionosphere

in 1918, contains the following dia- Warming to the task of diminishing
gram showing the direction of electric other theorists, Tesla then damns what
lines (see Fig. 10).41 It illustrates that a was then only a conjecture: the belief in
monopole antenna radiating above a what was then known as the Kennelly-
flat perfectly conducting ground tends Heaviside layer. We now call this the
to radiate in a direction parallel to the ionosphere—a set of layers of three or
ground and not in a direction along more ionized gases in the earth’s upper
the axis of the antenna. This is not a atmosphere. It was first postulated, as a
polar plot of the field strength vs. angle single layer, in 1902 by Arthur Kennelly
but a picture showing the direction of and Oliver Heaviside, working inde-
the electric field at various locations. pendently, as a way of explaining how
Incidentally, one can argue that there radio waves propagate beyond the hori-
is no radiation along the axis of the zon.44 Although its existence and height
antenna even if the ground has imper- were not verified experimentally until
fect conductivity.42 1924 by the Englishman Edward Apple-
Tesla specifically condemns any ton, for which he was later awarded the
theory that claims “[space waves] pass Nobel Prize, its presence was generally
along the earth’s surface and thus affect accepted in 1919, especially as a means
the receivers. I can’t think of anything to explain the long distances that radio
more improbable than this ‘gliding waves would propagate at night.45 Tesla
wave’ theory which… [is] contrary to all tells us, “I have noted conclusively that
laws of action and reaction.” Of course, there is no Heaviside layer, or if it exists
this gliding wave concept that we would it is of no effect.” One wonders if he
now call a “surface wave” did describe recanted this statement after Appleton’s
daytime radio propagation and was experiment.
central to the work of such theorists as
Sommerfeld, Zenneck, and Watson.43 Communication with Airplanes
Among the more perplexing aspects
of Tesla’s article is his discussion tied
to his Fig. 15. He is showing here in
Fig. 11 a “Hertz oscillator” suspended
in the air, and uses this arrangement
to explicate something that became
well known during World War I: an
airplane could communicate with a
wireless receiver on the ground. Also
known, but not discussed by Tesla,
was that two airplanes in the air might
Fig. 10. Electric field lines of a short monopole experience radio contact with each
antenna. (Manual for U.S. Navy Electricians, 1918) other.

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

Fig. 11. Tesla denies there is “Space Wave” transmission in wireless telegraphy. (True Wireless, Fig. 15)

What Tesla must explain is how his

1.111 L
transmitter in the air might communi- C= picofarads.
cate with the receiver on the ground in
spite of its not having a direct connec-
2 ln ( )
2h
r
tion to the earth that would be capable
of effectively launching his crucial earth This expression is the capacity of a
currents. His explanation is that “we are wire of length L above, and parallel to,
merely working through a condenser.” the earth’s surface, which is assumed to
Stating incorrectly there is a capacity be highly conducting. An airplane in
that “is a function of a logarithmic ratio flight dragging a wire antenna behind
between the length of the conductor itself would create this situation. The
and the distance from the ground,” he wire is at height h above the earth, and
says the receiver is affected in the same its radius is r. All dimensions are in cen-
manner as with an ordinary transmit- timeters, and the logarithm is base e.
ter. Evidently, we are to believe that the Note that the capacity is proportional
capacitance between earth and ground to the wire length L, not to the loga-
makes possible the earth currents cru- rithm of L as Tesla asserted.47 Using
cial to his argument. the well-known formula for capacitive
The formula for the capacity of a reactance X = 1/(2p f C), where f is the
wire that he is most likely referring to operating frequency, we could in prin-
would have been well known by the ciple obtain the impedance between the
1910s when it already had appeared in wire and earth. Dividing the voltage of
textbooks and handbooks:46 the antenna, with respect to the earth,

16 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

by this impedance, we might think we declining to say what sort of waves he

have obtained the current on the earth. was using: “What kind of waves they
But what voltage are we to use? were Marconi did not pretend to say; it
Because the antenna illuminates the was enough for him that they did their
earth with an electromagnetic wave, the business well.” 50 When asked about the
concept of voltage difference or poten- difference between his waves and those
tial difference cannot be applied. It was used by Hertz he replied “I don’t know.
known in the late 19 th century that elec- I am not a scientist, but I doubt if any
tric potential difference between two scientist can tell you...” 51 What seemed
points is calculated by the line integral to impede the connection of Marconi’s
of the electric field along a path between waves to those of Hertz’s was that it
those points. When there is a time vary- was known by 1897 that the former’s
ing electromagnetic field between these radiation could pass through the walls
points the result will depend on the of a building while Hertz’s, which was
path taken and so the concept of voltage based on a model of radiation as visible
difference ceases to be of use.48 light, would apparently not perform
Note that Tesla skirts entirely the such a feat.52
phenomenon of airplane-to-airplane Marconi’s first British patent,
wireless communication, which had number 12039, which was filed in
been observed during the war.49 Such 1896, speaks of an arrangement that
communication could not possibly he calls “a Hertz radiator” producing
involve earth currents if the transmis- effects “which propagate through space
sion took place over a desert or dry [as] Hertzian rays.” But he also talks
sandy soil. of electrical actions or manifestations
“…transmitted through the air, earth,
The Hertzian Wave Discourse or water by means of electrical oscilla-
The publication of Maxwell’s Treatise tions of high frequency.” For a while,
on Electricity and Magnetism in 1873, Marconi’s manifestations in the ether
which described his work of the pre- were known in some circles as Marconi
vious decade, together with Hertz’s waves, but the term soon died. Some
experiments of 1886–9, created the further indication of the confusion,
paradigm shift which Tesla was unable circa 1900, is a question raised by the
to accept. We might be a little indul- historian of early wireless, J. J. Fahie,
gent here—the new paradigm was slow in his publication of 1901, “… is the
to be accepted—consider Marconi for Marconi effect under all circumstances
example. truly Hertzian…?” 53
By the late 19 th century Marconi After 1899, we find that Marconi
was being lionized in the British press began to refer more frequently in his
because of his demonstrations of wire- work to “Hertzian waves.” In a speech
less telegraphy, but an interview in given before the Institution of Elec-
McClure’s magazine from 1899 has him trical Engineers (now the IET) in

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

England on March 2, 1899, he says, “I wavelengths so long as to make the

think it desirable to bring before you earth into a conducting sphere that has
some observations and results I have been brought to a resonant condition.
obtained with a system of Hertzian In the later case, he recommends using
wave telegraphy, which was the first frequencies lower than 20,000 cycles
with which I worked….” 54 His U.S. pat- per second (cps) and asserts one might
ent 676,332 of 1901 refers to “a trans- go as low as 6 cps (patent 787,412, lines
mitter producing Hertz oscillations.” 260–270).
And, following Kuhn, we can say that
Hertzian waves entered the discourse Maxwell and Einstein: Difficulties
of “normal science” because we find for Tesla
extensive references to them in a text- When Tesla wrote his True Wireless
book, e.g., Poincaré, cited above. In fact, paper he was not a young man—he
studying the index of Poincaré, we find was 63. Male life expectancy in the
that he uses Hertzian waves and elec- United States was then 54. His formal
tromagnetic waves as synonyms. John education in science and engineering
Ambrose Fleming, who was the first had taken place many years before. He
Professor of Electrical Engineering at had studied for somewhat less than
University College, London, and who three years at the Austrian Polytech
did major work for Marconi beginning in Graz Austria in the late 1870’s. In
in 1899, published a textbook titled 1880 he audited courses at Charles Fer-
Hertzian Wave Wireless Telegraphy in dinand University in Prague but was
1903, in which there is not the slightest not enrolled. His course work should
doubt that wireless telegraphy relies on have given him a solid grounding in
the waves of the title. electric circuit theory, and it was in
Interestingly, Tesla, in certain of school that he developed a great inter-
his turn-of-the-century U.S. wire- est in alternating currents, especially
less patents, refers to Hertzian waves, for motors.56 It is highly unlikely that
or “radiations,” being “brought into Tesla would have studied Maxwell’s
prominence” by Heinrich Hertz.55 In theory while at school. As first pre-
all of these instances, such waves are sented in 1873, it was so difficult that
disparaged as being of an outmoded few could understand it; nowhere will
or less desirable way of transmitting you find in Maxwell’s treatise the four
signals, or energy, which should be succinct equations studied today by
discarded in favor of one that either all electrical engineering and physics
uses extremely strong electric fields students. His analysis is based entirely
and high antennas to ionize a layer on potentials, not the electric and mag-
of the earth’s atmosphere which is netic fields used now. He used 20 equa-
to then act as a conductor of a trans- tions and 20 variables, and it was only
mission system (which includes the through the efforts of such people as
earth’s crust)—or of another that uses Hertz, Heaviside, and Willard Gibbs

18 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

in the late nineteenth century that the “Too bad, Sir Isaac, they dimmed your
equations were to assume the form we renown
find them in today.57 Even with their And turned your great science upside
simplifications, we know that Maxwell’s down.
theory was not systematically taught Now a long haired crank, Einstein by
at Cambridge University until after name,
around 1900.58 Because Hertz’s famous Puts on your high teaching all the
experiment was inspired by Maxwell’s blame.
work, which Tesla most likely did not Says: matter and force are transmutable
understand, it seems plausible that And wrong the laws you thought
Tesla might cling to an electric circuit immutable.”
theory paradigm in explaining what
was called wireless communication. Note the “long haired crank”—Tes-
Note however, this was not canonical la’s name for the man who overthrew
circuit theory—Tesla had added some the Newtonian paradigm of mechanics.
bizarre features of his own to force it Much has been written about oppo-
to explain wireless telegraphy. sition to Einstein’s theory of relativity;
Maxwell’s theory and its experi- this hostility reached its peak in the two
mental verification by Hertz is not the decades following the confirmation of
only paradigm shift in Tesla’s era that the general theory of relativity via the
he was unwilling to accept and under- measurement of the bending of starlight
stand. Throughout his life, he spoke by the sun’s gravitational field in 1919.61
often of particles that moved faster Some of this opposition was rooted in
than light—a direct contradiction of anti-Semitism, as the preceding refer-
Einstein’s theory of relativity.59 In an ence shows, and we do know that Tesla
interview with Time magazine on the had anti-Jewish tendencies.62 In addi-
occasion of his 75th birthday in 1931, tion, Hertz, whom he diminishes, was,
he claimed to have “split atoms” with like Einstein, of Jewish origin,—only
no release of energy—again a contra- partly in Hertz’s case—but it seems
diction of relativity. He also asserted more likely that the statement to Time
that he had, using “pure mathematics,” magazine derives more from an almost
come up with a theory that “tend[s] to pathological narcissism that compelled
disprove the Einstein theory.” There him to be in the public eye.
is no indication that Tesla ever had Tesla has been called a scientist,
the knowledge to derive a competing engineer, and inventor. While the
theory. confusion and angst that can befall a
Circa 1930, Tesla wrote a poem for scientific community having difficulty
his friend George Sylvester Viereck in in adapting to a paradigm shift has
which he muses about science.60 One been much written about, especially
stanza addresses Newton and contains after Kuhn’s seminal publication, the
these lines: effect of a scientific paradigm shift on

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

inventors, as opposed to scientists, has than DC, or whether he was acting out
been less explored.63 When we study the of pride, inertia, economic self-interest,
lives of individual inventors or engi- or an inability to grasp a phenomenon
neers we can find failure to adapt to a requiring some mathematical sophisti-
paradigm change. cation that eluded him. His statement in
1891 to Henry Villard, President of Edi-
Shifting Paradigms in Invention son GE, “The use of alternating current
Besides Tesla, whose inability to absorb instead of direct current is unworthy
a new paradigm should be evident, we of practical men,” has proved to be as
have the example of yet another great fatuous as Tesla’s notion that Hertzian
inventor, Thomas A. Edison. Edison wave theory is “an aberration of the
had little formal teaching in schools scientific mind.” 66
and was largely educated by his mother
and by his own readings. His first Age and Vanity
important work experiences and inven- We are left to wonder why Tesla wrote
tions were in the field of the [wired] this long paper displaying a wealth of
telegraph, which operates using direct ignorance. One clue might come from
currents, and it is clear that he obtained an article about him that appeared in
a strong intuitive grasp of DC theory. It the New York Times of January 9, 1943,
is understandable that his subsequent a few days after the inventor’s death. The
system of generating and distributing generally admiring piece observes, “His
electric power was all based on DC. practical achievements were limited to
Paul Israel, the esteemed biographer the short period that began in 1886 and
of Edison and editor of the Thomas ended in 1903. And what achievements
Edison papers, remarks, “While experi- they were.” By 1919, Tesla’s last impor-
menting with generators, Edison again tant work had taken place more than
relied on his experience with telegraph half a generation before. Studying a list
technology to provide a useful anal- of Tesla’s patents, we find that about
ogy that guided laboratory research.” 90% of them were filed on or before
Israel points out how Edison and his 1903, and all of his important ones were
workers sometimes envisioned direct granted before this date.67
current generators as “carbon battery
elements.” 64 Resurrecting Tesla’s Reputation
Historians have written about His Electrical Experimenter piece can be
Edison’s unwillingness to adapt to the read as a rather sad effort to resurrect
newly introduced system of AC electric his reputation. Moreover, his denigra-
power, which posed a direct economic tion of Hertzian waves and promotion
threat to his own DC system.65 We of the primacy of earth currents may be
will probably never know for sure if seen as an attempt to preserve respect
his objection to AC was truly based for his construction of a 187-foot tower
on his concern that it was more lethal (capped with a sphere) in 1901–1903 on

20 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

Shoreham, Long Island, whose pur- of currents that might be induced in a

pose was to produce a “World Wire- resonant earth.
less System” that would radiate “several
thousands of horsepower” and permit Strengthening Tesla’s Claims
the connectedness of all the telephone In a further attempt to strengthen his
and telegraph exchanges in the world claims to invention in wireless, Tesla
by wireless means. The system was to lays claim to discovering the forerun-
use currents in the earth but was never ner of the Audion in the caption to his
demonstrated.68 Fig. 9 (reproduced here as Fig. 12). The
Consider his allusion in “The True captions reads, “The Forerunner of the
Wireless” to a speech he gave in 1893 Audion—the Most Sensitive Wireless
at the Franklin Institute where there Detector Known, as described by Tesla
is a portion entitled “Electrical Reso- in His Lectures Before the Institution of
nance.” He remarks in 1919, “This little Electrical Engineers, London, February,
salvage from the wreck has earned me 1892.” It is instructive to read the text
the title of ‘Father of Wireless’ from of the talk where he discusses his “fore-
many well-disposed workers …” Perus- runner.” 70 He begins by paying homage
ing the speech, we wonder who these to Professor Crookes and his invention,
well-disposed workers are. the Crookes tube. Like Crookes, Tesla
In his Institute lecture he asserted, is not using thermionic emission. He
“I do firmly believe that it is practi- employs a cold evacuated glass bulb,
cable to disturb by means of powerful like a lamp bulb, but with no filament.
machines the electrostatic condition The bulb, which has a “high vacuum,”
of the earth and thus transmit intel- contains some conducting powder,
ligible signals and perhaps power… which in turn is connected by a wire
We know now that electrical vibration to one terminal of a high frequency,
may be transmitted through a single high voltage induction coil. The bulb
conductor. Why then not try to avail has a sheet of metal foil on its surface
ourselves of the earth for this purpose that is also connected to the coil for
[italics added]?” 69 Notice the use of the some experiments, but not others. The
word electrostatic. His proposal is not
based on any use or understanding
of electromagnetic waves. As further
proof of this, he goes on to wonder
what the electrical capacitance of the
earth might be and “the quantity of
electricity the earth contains.” None
of this thinking proved germane to
communication by wireless telegraphy
nor is his obsession in the article with Fig. 12. Tesla’s “Forerunner of the Audion.” (True
determining the period of oscillation Wireless, Fig. 9)

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

straight lines that you see in the figure of 1919, how did he get his article pub-
he calls a “brush”; it gives off a glow that lished? To answer this, we must focus
he calls luminosity—whose shape and on the magazine where it appeared and
form he reports is very sensitive to the its editor/publisher Hugo Gernsback
presence of objects or nearby electric (1884–1967).72 Almost a generation
or magnetic fields. younger than Tesla, Gernsback had
However fascinating his demonstra- certain things in common with him:
tion, Tesla still has not produced the they were both inventors with substan-
forerunner of the Audion. The latter, we tial lists of patents—Gernsback had
recall, was invented by Lee de Forest, 22, Tesla 112; both came from groups
and was the first working three-element that placed them in small minorities
vacuum tube. His patent application is in the United States (Gernsback was
dated January 29, 1907, and it issued on a Jew from Luxemburg); both studied
February 18, 1908. Despite de Forest’s science and engineering on the Euro-
confused understanding of his inven- pean continent; and both occupied a
tion, within the next half dozen years it kind of nether world bridging science
was proving its worth as both an ampli- and fantasy.73 They apparently had a
fier and an oscillator. If we want to see lasting friendship that would tend to
the forerunner of the Audion we must counter suspicions that Tesla was an
look to the work of Fleming and Edison, anti-Semite. Gernsback pressured the
whose devices, like de Forest’s, relied on Westinghouse Company, which had
thermionic emission. The distinguished benefited greatly from Tesla’s work
historian of the vacuum tube, Gerald in three phase power and induction
Tyne, makes no mention of Tesla in motors, to give the near destitute inven-
his well-regarded opus.71 This is not tor a pension in 1934.74
surprising—Tesla’s bulbs responded by
glowing only in the presence of strong, Gernsback’s Electrical Experimenter
quasi-electrostatic fields produced by The Electrical Experimenter, started
his machines. by Gernsback in 1913, is where we find
It is regrettable that Tesla’s narcis- Tesla’s article six years later.75 Although
sism caused him to write this paper—it the term “science fiction” did not exist
can only provide difficulty for his aco- until coined by Gernsback in 1929, his
lytes and apologists. The ignorance he magazine Modern Electrics carried a
displays of classical electromagnetic serialized story of that genre in 1911–12,
theory, which by 1919 was a mature sub- written by Gernsback—something to
ject, can only diminish his reputation. keep in mind when we look at the Elec-
trical Experimenter, where Tesla was to
Gernsback and His Magazine publish abundantly in the 7-year life of
If Tesla’s True Wireless is so utterly that magazine.76
wrong, and if it conflicts with the para- What sort of magazine was the
digms used by engineers and scientists Electrical Experimenter? It was dense

22 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

with ads for radio hardware, e.g., Mur- man’s thoughts. They are then sent to an
dock headphones and audio interstage instrument on his desk that converts his
transformers as well as Grebe and De thoughts to an inscription on a moving
Forest radios. Mainly, it carried stories tape. The latter is supplied to the man’s
of new inventions, especially those with secretary who is capable of reading the
an electrical basis, such as a new radio information on the tape and who can
compass, a method of abolishing smoke now write letters or memos based on
electrically, new electric stoves, and what the boss has been thinking. The
quack medicine—anesthesia via elec- article appears in the same issue as
tricity and an electrical cure for tuber- Tesla’s, and Tesla, in an introduction,
culosis using the Tesla coil.77 Much of gives some measured support to the
the magazine was given over to what we idea. Interestingly, Greenleaf Whit-
would now call “techno-euphoria”—a tier Pickard, a distinguished electrical
belief that technology would bring us engineer who helped develop what we
wonderful things in the not-too-distant would now call the crystal radio, circa
future. One example was the Thought 1904, also comments and employs the
Recorder, shown in Fig. 13. term “Hertzian waves,” illustrating how
The author of the article is none commonly the phrase was used.
other than Gernsback himself. He The Electrical Experimenter does
imagines a man in an office who is con- seek to explain legitimate recent
nected to a halo on his forehead. The advances in the sciences. For example,
halo is supporting an Audion ampli- Einstein’s special and general theory
fier tube that detects and amplifies the of relativity and the general theory’s

Fig. 13. The “Thought Recorder.” (Electrical Experimenter, May 1919)

Volume 30, 2017 23

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

confirmation by the observed bend- large one, thereby proving that gravity
ing of light are carefully described in has been weakened by electricity.
the January 1920 issue by an unusual Anyone with a modicum of knowl-
person for the era: a female astrono- edge of electromagnetic theory would
mer, Isabel M. Lewis, M.A, who was see what was happening here. The AC
a regular contributor and the first creates a time varying magnetic field
woman astronomer to be hired at the that induces eddy currents in the small
U.S. Naval Observatory.78 The magazine ball. These currents interact with the
also published pure science fiction sto- magnetic field to push the small ball
ries, such as “At War with the Invisible” away from the large one. The clue that
appearing in the March and April 1918 Faraday’s law of induction and the
issues, which described a war between induced current serve as the explana-
the planets Mars and Earth in the 21st tion should have been the failure of
century.79 the experiment to work with a direct
current. The gravitational field, like DC
Science Fiction, Nostalgia for the Future and its resulting fields, is static. A direct
Unfortunately, a magazine mixing current cannot induce a voltage or cur-
techno-euphoria, future studies, sci- rent in a neighboring circuit, while
ence fiction and real science is play- alternating currents have that ability.
ing dangerous games: the boundaries Eddy currents were well understood by
became diffuse. The March 1918 Elec- 1919. One wonders how much real sci-
trical Experimenter has an article by ence Gernsback knew; it is no surprise
Gernsback starting on page 743 entitled that he permitted another paper based
“Can Electricity Destroy Gravitation?” on dubious physics to be published the
The author asserts it can, and describes next year: Tesla’s “The True Wireless.”
the work of a Prof. Francis E. Nipher The Electrical Experimenter
of the Saint Louis Academy of Science. morph­e d into another Gernsback
The professor’s experiment is described magazine: Science and Invention, in
thusly: He suspends a small lead ball 1920.81 This publication, although it
from a string. It is placed in proximity did in some ways live up to its title,
to a very heavy lead ball that rests on increasingly carried science fiction and
a bench. The small ball and string are proved so successful that Gernsback
seen to be deflected toward the heavy was able to introduce more magazines
ball because of the force of gravitational (e.g., Amazing Stories, Wonder Stories)
attraction—a straightforward replica- that were wholly devoted to the science
tion of the famed Cavendish experi- fiction genre, and he is best known as a
ment of 1797–8.80 The professor then publisher of science fiction. At least one
passes a direct current through the historian has suggested that many of
large ball. Nothing has changed. But the ideas in Gernsback’s science-fiction
then he applies an AC current, et voilà, stories promoted Tesla’s “still unreal-
the small ball moves away from the ized ideas” for inventions.82

24 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

Endnotes 11. It was not until 1893, well after Tesla had com-
1. Nicholson Baker and Margaret Brentano, “The pleted his education, that the great simplifica-
World on Sunday: Graphic Art and Joseph tion in AC circuit analysis made possible by the
Pulitzer’s Newspaper (1898–1911),” (Bullfinch use of complex quantities began to be adopted,
Press, Boston, 2005) pp. 102–103. thanks to the work of C. P. Steinmetz. See, for
2. Nikola Tesla, “The True Wireless,” Elec- example, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, “Complex
trical Experimenter, vol. 7, no. 3, May Quantities and their Use in Electrical Engi-
1919, pp.22–23, 61–63, 87. The following neering,” AIEE Proceedings of International
website has images of the original pages: Electrical Congress, July 1893, pp. 33–74.
http://w w w.free-energ y-nfo.com/Tesla 12. Alfred Hay, The Principles of Alternate Cur-
TrueWireless.pdf. Other sources of the paper rent Working, (Biggs and Co, Boston, 1897)
can be found by Googling the search term pp. 137–148. Available at Google Books;
“Tesla True Wireless.” Vendors of CD’s having for other 19th century engineers who used
a complete run of the issues of the Electrical fluid analogies—or rejected them—see Paul
Experimenter can be found on eBay. J. Nahin. Oliver Heaviside: Sage in Solitude,
3. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revo- (IEEE Press, Hoboken, NJ) 1988, p. 59 (note his
lutions, 3rd ed., (University of Chicago Press, footnote 3 and the derisive comment “drain-
Chicago, 1996). pipe theory”).
4. R.P. Feynman, R. B. Leighton, and M. Sands, 13. There is a stern critique of using mechanical
“The Feynman Lectures on Physics, vol. 2,” explanations for explaining electrical phe-
(Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1964) pp. 1–6. nomena in Henri Poincaré, Maxwell’s Theory
5. Jed Buchwald, The Rise of the Wave Theory of and Electrical Oscillations, (McGraw-Hill, NY,
Light, (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1904) Chapter 1, pp. 1–2. This book is available
1989); With the birth of quantum theory circa at Google Books. Tesla was so committed to
1900–26, a particle theory of light based on hydraulic analogies that he supplied one for
photons was to reemerge, but it did not under- his high voltage, high frequency invention,
mine Maxwell’s work thanks to the concept of the Tesla coil. See N. Tesla, My Inventions.
the wave-particle duality. See for example Ian This series of articles originally appeared in
Walmsley, Light: A Very Short Introduction, the Electrical Experimenter in 1919. They have
(Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015). been republished in his book My Inventions
6. Hugh Aitken, Syntony and Spark: The Origins of (Barnes and Noble, NY, 1995). See especially
Radio, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp. 76–77. The analogy is so complicated that
1985), Chapter 3. one is better served by studying the original
7. Hugh Aitken, Syntony and Spark. electrical device and applying the laws of AC
8. Interestingly, we have only Tesla’s word that circuit theory and resonance.
this meeting took place. There is no support- 14. Interestingly, in U.S. patent 645,576, Tesla
ing entry in Heinrich Hertz: Memoirs, Let- has not yet discarded the return wire in a
ters, Diaries by Mathilde Hertz and Charles communication/power distribution system
Süsskind, 2nd edition (San Francisco Press, he is proposing. Part of his circuit consists of
San Francisco, 1977). As Tesla was a famous a path through an atmospheric layer that his
inventor by the time of the meeting, it is puz- powerful transmitter will, he asserts, succeed
zling that he was not mentioned by Hertz. in ionizing. The earth is also employed in the
Also, no meeting is described by Bernard W. circuit. The patent was granted in 1900, but
Carlson in his definitive biography of Tesla: by 1919 he has dispensed with the return part
Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, (Princeton of the circuit.
University Press, Princeton, 2013). 15. For an explanation of the concept of Whig
9. Tom Lewis, Empire of the Air: The Men Who history, as it applies to the history of science,
Made Radio, (Harper-Collins, New York, see Steven Weinberg, “Eye on the Present, The
1991), p 136. Whig History of Science,” New York Review
10. Paul Schubert, The Electric Word: The Rise of Books, vol. 62, no. 20, Dec. 17, 2015.
of Radio, (Macmillan, London, 1928) 16. J. Zenneck and A. E. Seelig (translation), Wire-
pp. 166–168. less Telegraphy, (McGraw-Hill, NY 1915)

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Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

pp. 258–259. This book provides an idea of 28. Charles Burrows, “The History of Radio Propa-
how textbooks, circa 1910–1920, explained gation up to the End of World War I,” Proceed-
waves received on the far side of the mountain. ings of the IRE, vol. 50, no. 5, May 1962, pp.
17. See the article on diffraction in the 11th edition 682–684.
of the Encyclopedia-Britannica, vol. 8, 1911. 29. Note that Marconi had described arrays
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop formed from inverted L antennas as early
%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Diffraction_of_Light as 1906, as noted in G. W. Pierce below. The
/11. Also, for a modern treatment see Y. T. Lo, horizontal elements were much longer than the
Y. T and S. W. Lee, Antenna Handbook, (Van vertical ones, a configuration not suggested
Nostrand-Reinhold, NY, 1988) sec. 29. in Tesla’s Fig. 16. G. W. Pierce, Principles of
18. R. W. P King and S. Prasad, Fundamental Elec- Wireless Telegraphy, (McGraw-Hill, New York,
tromagnetic Theory and Applications, (Prentice 1910) Chapter 25. See also Practical Wireless
Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 1986) Telegraphy, Elmer Bucher, Wireless Press, 1917,
chapter 7. sec. 233. Here, the horizontal portion of the
19. Jules Stratton, Electromagnetic Theory, antenna is nearly a mile long.
(McGraw-Hill, New York. 1941), secs. 30. See G. Marconi, “On Methods Whereby the
9.22–9.24. Radiation of Electric Waves May Be Mainly
20. Chen-Pang Yeang, Probing the Sky with Radio Confined to Certain Directions, and Whereby
Waves (University of Chicago Press, Chicago. the Receptivity of a Receiver May Be Restricted
2013). I am greatly indebted to this source. to Electric Waves Emanating from Certain
21. Henri Poincaré and F. King Vreeland (transla- Directions,” Proceedings of the Royal Society
tion), Maxwell’s Theory and Wireless Telegra- of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a
phy, (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1904) p. 161. Mathematical and Physical Character 77.518
Tesla might have countered by asserting that (1906): 413–21; Electrician, vol. 60, 1908, p.
the Branly coherer responds to the electric 883.
field—not the magnetic field—and the earth 31. Pierce, p. 298.
weakens the former. 32. Zenneck and Seelig, Sec. 202–204. The book
22. L. W. Austin, “Some Quantitative Experiments contains the reference to Von Hoerschelmann,
in Long Distance Radio Telegraph,” Reprint which was published in German as a disserta-
No. 159, Bulletin of Bureau of Standards, vol. tion in 1911.
7, no. 3, Feb. 1, 1911; see also Robison, 1918, 33. Aitken, p. 267.
p. 228. 34. Nahin, pp. 142–143.
23. Watson, G. N. “The Transmission of Electric 35. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Elec-
Waves Around the Earth,” Proc Royal Society trical Age, (Princeton U. Press, Princeton NJ,
(London) Series A, vol. 95, July 15, 1919, pp. 2013) p. 200–202; note that some images were
546–553. the result of multiple exposures where Tesla
24. Heinrich Hertz, Electric Waves, (Dover Books, was not present when the sparks were being
Mineola NY, reprint of Macmillan book generated, see pp. 297–299.
1893) chapter 8 (dating from 1888, especially 36. T. C. Martin, editor, The Inventions, Researches
Fig. 26). and Writings of Nikola Tesla, 1893; republished
25. Kuhn, page 43. by (Barnes and Noble, NY, 1992) Chapter 6.
26. Samuel Robison, Robison’s Manual of Radio From the lecture: “The reason why no pain in
Telegraphy and Telephony for Naval Electri- the body is felt, and no injurious effect noted,
cians (U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, is that everywhere, if a current be imagined
1918) p.131. He asserts that the directivity to flow through the body, the direction of its
behavior of the “flat top antenna” attributed flow would be at right angles to the surface;
to Marconi, which involves a long piece of hence the body of the experimenter offers
wire or wires parallel to the ground, is still an enormous section to the current, and the
not understood. density is very small, with the exception of
27. L. J. Chu, “Growth of the Antennas and Propa- the arm, perhaps, where the density may be
gation Field Between World War 1 and World considerable…The expression of these views,
War 2. Part 1, Antennas,” Proceedings of the which are the result of long continued experi-
IRE, vol. 50, no. 5, May 1962, pp. 685–7. ment and observation, both with steady and

26 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

varying currents, is elicited by the interest concept of voltage difference see Edward.C.
which is at present taken in this subject, and Jordan and Kenneth. Balmain, Electromag-
by the manifestly erroneous ideas which are netic Waves and Radiating Systems, second
daily propounded in journals on this subject.” ed., (Prentice-Hall, New Jersey 1968) p. 36.
Tesla misses the essential point here—the very 49. ht t p:// blogs.m hs.ox .ac.u k /i n novat i ng
shallow depth of penetration of the energy. incombat/ See also R. W. Burns, Communica-
The arm plays no special role. Notice that he tions: An International History of the Formative
takes a swipe at other workers’ “erroneous Years, (IEE Press, UK, 2004) p. 407.
ideas.” 50. http://earlyradiohistory.us/1899marc.htm,
37. Indeed, it was in Poincaré’s book of 1904 (see McClure’s Magazine, (London), June 1899,
above). pp. 99–112.
38. E. C. Jordan and K. Balmain, Electromag- 51. Sungook Hong, Wireless: From Marconi’s Black
netic Waves and Radiating Systems, 2nd ed., Box to the Audion, (MIT Press, Cambridge,
(Prentice-Hall. NJ, 1968) p. 655. MA, 2001) p. 205. See Aitken, his footnote 12
39. Note that this is a simplification of a formula page 195. Note (same page) that even Fleming,
derived by Heaviside in 1888. See Nahin, who Marconi’s well-regarded consulting engineer,
also gives the formula we are using here, p. 176 was at first misled by the misuse of analogies
40. King and Prasad, section 5.9. The sinθ variation drawn from the theory of light.
was derived by Hertz in the 19th century (see 52. Aitken, pp. 285–286 and Hong p. 42, footnote
Hertz, Electric Waves, p. 143 above) and was 48.
popularized by Louis Cohen in a paper written 53. J. J Fahie, A History of Wireless Telegraphy,
for engineers in 1914. See his “Electromagnetic (Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1901) p. 216.
Radiation,” Journal of the Franklin Institute, 54. Guglielmo Marconi, “Wireless Telegraphy,”
April 1914, vol. 177, no. 4, pp. 409–418. Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engi-
41. Robison, 1918, p. 62. Notice that the same neers, vol. 28, 1899, pp. 273–291.
picture appears in an even earlier edition of 55. U.S. Patent 685,955 of 1901, 685,954 of 1901,
Robison, dating from 1911, on page 76. This 685,956 of 1901, 787,412 of 1905.
book is available from Google Books. 56. Carlson, chapter 2.
42. R.W.P King, Theory of Linear Antennas, (Har- 57. Nahin, chapters 7 and 9.
vard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1956) 58. Bruce Hunt, The Maxwellians, (Cornell U.
chapter 7. Note that this work is based in part Press, Ithaca, NY, 1991) p. 202.
on Sommerfeld’s work of 1909. 59. Marc Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of
43. Burrows. Nikola Tesla, (Citadel Press. New York, 1998)
44. Ibid. p. 423.
45. The ionosphere, although not called by that 60. Margaret Cheney & Robert Uth, Tesla: Master
name, could be found in electrical engineering of Lightning, (Barnes and Noble/Metro Books,
handbooks as early as 1915; see for example W. NY, 2001) pp. 138–139.
H. Eccles, Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony: 61. Milena Wazeck , Einstein’s Opponents, The
A Handbook of Formulae, Data and Informa- Public Controversy about the Theory of Relativ-
tion. (Electrician, London, 1915), pp. 162–3. ity in the 1920’s. (Cambridge University Press,
46. Eccles, p. 120. Cambridge, UK, 2014).
47. In the unlikely event that the wire hangs 62. Seifer, p. 212.
straight down from the aircraft, the preceding 63. For an example of writing on the subject of
formula does not apply. However, it would still paradigm shifts in physics after Kuhn, see
be incorrect to say that the capacitance varies Jaume Navarro, “Electron Diffraction Chez
with the logarithm of the length of wire. The Thomson: Early Responses to Quantum Phys-
required formula shows a more complicated ics in Britain.” The British Journal for the His-
behavior. See Eccles p. 120. tory of Science, vol. 43, 2010, pp. 245–275.
48. James Clerk Maxwell, A Treatise on Electric- 64. Paul Israel, Edison: A Life of Invention, (John
ity and Magnetism, vol. 1.(Clarendon Press, Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998) p. 176.
Oxford 1891) p. 76. This has been reprinted by 65. Thomas Parke Hughes, Networks of Power:
Dover Books, NY, 1954. For a modern treat- Electrification in Western Society, (Johns Hop-
ment that emphasizes the limitations of the kins University Press, Baltimore, 1983).

Volume 30, 2017 27

Paradigm Lost: Nikola Tesla’s True Wireless

66. Matthew Josephson, Edison: A Biography, Days, (Wildside Press, Rockville, MD, 2004)
(Wiley, New York, 1992) p. 359. p. 51–2.
67. The web site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ 80. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_
List_of_Nikola_Tesla_patents lists 111 or 112 experiment.
U.S. Tesla patents (depending on how they are 81. Ashley, above, p. 53.
counted). 82. Stover, p. 175. In 1923 Gernsback produced a
68. Nikola Tesla, “My Inventions,” Electrical book, Radio for All, published by Lippincott.
Experimenter, 1919, see chapter 5, available on The work was designed to introduce people
the Internet http://www.teslasautobiography to what was still in many ways a hobby. Thus,
.com/ See also Carlson, chapter 15. there were instructions for building simple
69. T. C. Martin, pp. 346–7. In the late 19th cen- radios—crystal and one-or two-tube sets, as
tury, Tesla spoke repeatedly of disturbing the well as transmitters. It is puzzling that the book
electrostatic condition of the earth as a means makes no mention of the work of Tesla, given
of sending intelligence. See also Martin p. 292 his friendship with Gernsback, although there
for an example used in a speech before the are numerous allusions to Marconi as well as
British IEE in 1892. single references to such inventors as Poulsen,
70. This tube appears in a speech he gave in 1892 Pickard, Fessenden, and Dunwoody.
to the Institution of Electrical Engineers (Lon-
don). See T. C. Martin ed. pp. 225–229.
71. Gerald Tyne, Saga of the Vacuum Tube,
(Antique Electronic Supply, Tempe AZ.
Acknowledgements
1977). I would like to thank Dr. Elizabeth
72. Mike Adams, “Hugo Gernsback: Predicting Bruton of the University of Manches-
Radio Broadcasting, 1919–1924,” Antique
ter, Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, for
Wireless Association Review, vol. 27, August
2014, pp. 165–192. reading this paper and offering useful
73. For a listing of the Tesla U.S. patents see http:// advice. And I would also like to thank
web.mit.edu/most/Public/Tesla1/alpha_tesla. Prof. Karl Stephan of Texas State Uni-
html. The number for Gernsback was obtained
from a search of Google Patents using his name versity, San Marcos, for giving me a
as the inventor. Footnote 64 above also gives valuable library of early textbooks on
a source of Tesla’s patents. wireless telegraphy. I would like to
74. Carlson, p. 379.
75. K. Massie, and Stephen Perry, “Hugo Gerns-
thank Prof. Chen-Pang Yeang of the
back and Radio Magazines: An Influential University of Toronto, a distinguished
Intersection in Broadcast History,” Journal of historian of early 20th-century wave
Radio Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, 2002. Note that the
propagation theory, for his comments.
magazine was originally titled The Electrical
Experimenter. The title was shortened during I am indebted to this journal’s editor
1917. Dr. Eric Wenaas for many useful sug-
76. The term was apparently first used in Gerns- gestions that resulted in my paring
back’s magazine Wonder Stories in the issue of
June 1929; Gernsback had earlier coined the down this paper and making it clearer.
term “scientifiction.” See Leon Stover, Science
Fiction from Wells to Heinlein, (McFarland About the Author
Publishers, Jefferson, NC, 2002) p. 9.
77. Frederick Strong, “The Home Treatment of
A. David Wunsch was born in Brook-
Tuberculosis by High Frequency Currents,” lyn, NY, on December 15, 1939. He grew
The Electrical Experimenter, vol. 5, no. 10, Feb. up in the same Flatbush neighborhood
1918.
of red diaper babies as Bernie Sanders.
78. http://maia.usno.navy.mil/women_history/
lewis.html. David studied electrical engineering at
79. M Ashley and R. Lowndes, The Gernsback Cornell and later earned his Ph.D. at

28 The AWA Review

 Wunsch

Harvard where he was a student in the David recently rebuilt the Heathkit
Antenna Group directed by Professor oscilloscope that he constructed in 1957.
R.W.P. King. He thought it would make him 17 again
David has spent most of his pro- but his beard remains white.
fessional life at the University of Mas-
sachusetts, Lowell which is located in
Lowell, Massachusetts. He is now Pro-
fessor of Electrical Engineering Emeri-
tus. In 1995 he started the course for
liberal arts majors at Lowell, Principles
and History of Radio. It is described in
the article “Electrical engineering for
the liberal arts: radio and its history,”
IEEE Transactions on Education, vol.41,
no.4, pp.320–324, Nov 1998.
David is the book review editor of
the IEEE Magazine Technology and
Society. He is the author of two text-
books: Complex Variables with Appli-
cations (Pearson), currently in its third
edition, and the recently published A
MATLAB Companion to Complex Vari-
ables (Taylor and Francis). David Wunsch

Volume 30, 2017 29

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