WITH work on the Enderby Wharf project in our minds we hope to publish here various items about the history of telecommunications in Greenwich. BUT to start with, as a bit of general background, here is a timeline of transatlantic telecommunications generally. You will have to wait to find out where Greenwich fits into all this ......................
Timeline of Transatlantic Telecommunications
1600 William Gilbert publishes De Maqnete (On Magnets)
1821 Andre Ampere establishes the elementary laws of electrodynamics
1850 - Lord Kelvin defines relationship between resistance, inductance and capacitance of an oscillatory circuit
Pierre Guitard observes 'coherence'of dust particles in air when electrified
Proposal that a telegraph cable could run between St Johns Newfoundland and Ireland to connect old and new world
1858 First transatlantic telegraph cable completed (but fails after 3 weeks due to insulation breakdown) Lord Kelvin develops the mirror galvanometer
1872 Loomis awarded US Patent 129971 for his 'aerial telegraph system'but fails to turn his discovery into commercial success.
1904 John Ambrose Fleming invents the thermionic diode
Fessenden demonstrates radiotelephony over 40km in USA
1905 Fessenden invents the superheterodyne circuit
1 915 New York-San Francisco cable uses telephone amplifiers
1927 USA - UK radiotelephone service commences
1 957 USSR launches first man-made satellite (Sputnik 1) with a 96 minute, 229/946km elliptical orbit
1990 Tim Berners-Lee working at CERN devises the World Wide Web operating over the INTERNET
Timeline of Transatlantic Telecommunications
1600 William Gilbert publishes De Maqnete (On Magnets)
1794 Visual semaphore telegraph established between Paris and Lille
1796 First visual semaphore telegraphs established in the UK
1820 Hans Oersted discovers electromagnetic field due to electric current
1821 Andre Ampere establishes the elementary laws of electrodynamics
1826 Georg Ohm defines basic electrical law V=IR
1831 Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction
1837 Cooke and Wheatstone patent the 5 needle electric telegraph
1838 Alphabetic code of dots and dashes developed by Alfred Vail for Samuel Morse
1839 5 needle electric telegraph established between London Paddinqton and West Drayton
1842 Joseph Henry discovers oscillatory nature of a suddeelectrical discharge
1843 William Montgomerie introduces Malayan gutta-percha to the UK ( used as insulation for submarine cables)
1850 - Lord Kelvin defines relationship between resistance, inductance and capacitance of an oscillatory circuit
Pierre Guitard observes 'coherence'of dust particles in air when electrified
Proposal that a telegraph cable could run between St Johns Newfoundland and Ireland to connect old and new world
1851 - submarine telegraph cable laid between Dover and Cap Gris Nez
Heinrich Ruhmkorff invents the induction coil 1852 -Michael Faraday announces theory of electric and magnetic 'lines of force'- submarine cable laid between Portpatrick (Scotland) and Donaghadee (Ireland)
1853 Lt Maury USN surveys sea bed from Newfoundland to Ireland finding a plateau suitable for laying submarine cable
1854 The American entrepreneur Cyrus Field initiates the project to lay a telegraph cable from USA to Ireland
1855 -Lord Kelvin calculates that speed of signalling through a cable is inversely proportional to the square of the cable length
Charles Bright surveys Irish coast and selects Valentia Bay as cable landing point for a submarine cable 1856 Cyrus Field forms the Atlantic Telegraph Company
1857 HMS Cyclops surveys the great circle line Newfoundland to Ireland and confirms Lt Maury's findings
8 August USS Niagara and HMS Agammemnon attempt initial cable lay Ireland to USA but cable breaks on 11 August after 400 miles laid in depths up to 2.5 miles 1858 First transatlantic telegraph cable completed (but fails after 3 weeks due to insulation breakdown) Lord Kelvin develops the mirror galvanometer
1864 Maxwell publishes paper 'A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field' detailing mathematical formulas for the propagation of electromagnetic waves
1866-First successful transatlantic telegraph cable laid by the 'Great Eastern'supervised by Lord Kelvin - American dentist Mahlon Loomis discovers elementary radio telegraphy by sending on-off signals 22km across Blue Ridge mountains using a kite to pick up static electricity as energy source
1872 Loomis awarded US Patent 129971 for his 'aerial telegraph system'but fails to turn his discovery into commercial success.
1873 Maxwell formulates theory that electromagnetic waves are of the same nature as light with similar characteristics
1874 Emile Baudot develops the 5 unit telegraph code
1876 Alexander Graham Bell submits telephone patents.
1888 Heinrich Hertz experiments prove existence of electromagnetic waves as predicted by Maxwell. Oliver Lodge identifies importance of 'resonance'between oscillatory circuits to optimise energy transfer leading to the principle of selective tuning which he called syntony
1891 Eduard Branly constructs the 'coherer'for detecting electromagnetic waves (cohesion of iron filings contained in a glass tube when exposed to electromagnetic waves, and hence their decrease in resistance to a current flowing through them from Latin 'cohaere'= stick together
1892 William Crookes predicts 'telegraphy without wires'
First Strowger automatic telephone exchange operates in Indiana USA 1894 Oliver Lodge transmits 'Hertzian'waves over 60m during lecture to British Association for Advancement of Science using a modified Branly coherer
1895 In Italy Marconi transmits 'Hertzian' waves some 2-3km using elevated aerial and an earth connection
In Russia Aleksandr Popov demonstrates reception of signals over 60m using lightening conductor as an aerial and a Branly -Lodge coherer. 1896 Marconi obtains patent for wireless telegraph
1897 -Marconi demonstrates radio link from Lavernock Point near Cardiff 14km across Bristol Channel
Marconi establishes the 'Wireless and Signal Company Ltd' later to become the 'Marconi Company1899 Michael Pupin proposes adding induction (loading) coils to cables to extend transmission distances
1901 Marconi transmits Morse letter 'S'across Atlantic from Poldhu Cornwall to Signal Hill, Newfoundland
Canadian Reginald Fessenden patents radiotelephony
Canadian Reginald Fessenden patents radiotelephony
1902 Oliver Heaviside and Arthur Kennely predict ionised layer in upper atmosphere
1903 Marconi Poldhu - Cape Cod radio link provides limited commercial telegraphy (mainly used by newspapers)
Fessenden transmits speech using modulated arc over 20km 1904 John Ambrose Fleming invents the thermionic diode
Fessenden demonstrates radiotelephony over 40km in USA
1905 Fessenden invents the superheterodyne circuit
1906 -Lee de Forest adds third electrode to the diode to create the 'audion'(triode) thermionic valve
Fessenden broadcasts gramophone records to ships over distance of 80km probably the worlds first radio broadcast 1907 Marconi establishes limited public radio telegraph service between UK and USA via Canada
1912 Alexander Meissner develop s the electronic HF generator
1914 Marconi experiments with valve transmitters for British navy
1922 Regular sound broadcasting commences in the UK
1924 Edward Appleton demonstrates existence of the ionosphere
Marconi and Franklin exploit skywave transmission via ionosphere over distance of 4000km 1926 Canada-UK radiotelephone service commences
1927 USA - UK radiotelephone service commences
1935 Armstrong demonstrates frequency modulated system
1937 Alec Reeves invents pulse code modulation
1943 Submarine coaxial telephone cable using submerged valve amplifiers laid between Anglesey and Isle of Man
1944 Werner von Braun develops V2 rocket at Peenemunde Germany- forerunner of USA launch vehicles for their space programme
1945 Arthur C. Clarke publishes article in Wireless World proposing placing man-made satellites in geostationary orbit to act as extraterrestrial relay stations to provide worldwide radio coverage
1947 Transistor invented at Bell Labs by Bardeen, Shockley and Brattain
1950 Key West-Havana submarine coaxial telephone cable laid
1954 US Navy reflects voice messages off the moon
1956 TAT 1 the first UK-USA/Canada transatlantic telephony coaxial cable with submerged repeaters completed
1958 -USA satellite Explorer 1 confirms existence of the Van Allen belts
US Air Force satellite SCORE tested as active repeater recording incoming messages on tape then retransmitting them 1959 Laser is invented
1960 -Aluminized plastic balloon ECHO 1 launched by USA at altitude of 1600m to act as passive reflector of radio signal - ECHO 2 tests reflected transmission between USA and France
1962 -Telstar active satellite is launched by USA - telephony and TV tests between USA and UK France commence
Joseph Licklider of MIT suggests a network of interconnected computers to provide rapid data access ( origin of the INTERNET 1964 SYNCOM satellite is launched into geostationary orbit
1965 INTELSAT 1 geostationary satellite commences commercial satellite communications
1966 Kao and Hockham of STC Laboratories propose optical telecommunications through pure glass fibres
1969 US Defense Department creates ARPANET (advanced research projects agency network) using packet transmission and switching (routing) which eventually develops into the INTERNET
1979 Analogue cellular mobile radio telephony commences in Japan
1980 Commercial optical fibre link Brownhills-Walsall in UK goes into service
1987 First long distance submarine optical fibre links Corsica and French mainland
1988 TAT 8 first transatlantic optical fibre cable completed
1991 Digital mobile cellular radio GSM commences in Finland
2000 Transatlantic optical fibre cable 360 Atlantic with capacity of nearly 2 Terabits/s commences operation (1 terabit = 1012bits/s )
This list was given to us and it is understood it was part of a conference pack in 2007 - we do not have details.. If that is not so, and if it is your list, and your copyright, then please email (indhistgreenwich@aol.com) and it will be removed from this site, with an apology - or remain with a note from you.