The history of technology has many lessons on how technology trends evolve over time. Discoveries create opportunities for practical solutions. The foundation for electronic communication as we know today was laid in the 19th century. From 1820 to the turn of the century, innovators made experiments and discoveries. Morse’s telegraph made Western Union big and powerful. The telegraph proved to be a disruptive technology that changed how wars were fought and how businesses were run. However, the telephone would also prove to be disruptive and destroyed the telegraph business. At the dawn of the 20th century many believed that there was a market for wireless communication. One was Guglielmo Marconi, who set out to commercialize the technology. Marconi and others created a new market for communication

1. Lecture L11
CONNECTING PEOPLE

2. Think about this
How does technology evolve?
Adjacent Possible
Law of Accelerating Returns
The S-curve
The Prevailing Technology Trap

3. Communication
Wars have been won on intelligence and the speed of
communications
!
Militaries and business community on the forefront on the
development of rapid communication

4. Communication
Early 19th century the horse dominated
Stage coaches and pony express
The railroads changed this
Then came electricity

5. Electricity
Flickr
image:
-­‐Qualsiasi

6. Electricity
Long before the 19th century, people had
acknowledged electronic forces
!
Benjamin Franklin’s famous
Kite experiment in 1752 proved
that lightning was made of
electricity

7. Scientific Discoveries
From 1820 to 1880 saw series in radio and electromagnetism
Era of poor communication and non-systematic research
Duplicated work, misunderstood results, and often
misinterpreted own results

8. Early Discoveries
Christian Oersted
!
Discovered electromagnetism
(rafsegulsvið) 1820
!
Electric current (straumur)
creates a magnetic field
(segulsvið)
!

9. Early Discoveries
Michael Faraday
!
In 1821 reversed Oersted’s
experiment and discovered
induction (leiðni)
!
He got current to flow through
wire around a magnet
!
Magnetic energy could be converted
to electricity – Faraday’s Law

10. Early Discoveries
Joseph Henry
!
Scientist professor with College of
New Jersey
!
Transmitted the first practical
electric signal (rafboð) in 1830
!
This was the foundation for
electric signalling – the telegraph

11. Early Discoveries
James Maxwell
!
Published papers on electricity
Maxwell’s Equations 1864
!
Light, electricity, and magnetisms
are related and travel or radiate in
waves
!
Waves depend on frequency

12. Early Discoveries
Heinrich Hertz
!
Defined and documented a
practical way to send and
receive radio waves, 1888
!
Used Maxwell’s Equations

13. Timeline

14. Conclusions
Several discoveries were made 1820-1880
Electricity, Radio, Electromagnetisms
Law of Accelerating Return
!
This laid foundation for new disruptive technologies
Adjacent Possible

15. The Second Industrial Revolution
The period 1870-1914
Innovations in the chemical, electric, petroleum and steel
industries
!
Growth period

16. The Second Industrial Revolution
“The Age of Synergy”
!
When most great innovations were developed
Begun with Bessemer steel in the 1860s and culminated in mass
production and the production line

17. The Long Wave
Kondratiev Waves
!
1780 – 1830 Cotton, Iron, Water Power
1830 – 1880 Railways, Steam Power, Steamships
1880 – 1930 Electricity, Chemicals, Steel

18. Think About This
What was the killer application
of electricity?

19. Light
Lighting became one of the first publicly
available applications
!
In 1880 Tomas Edison had developed a
light-bulb that last enough time to be
practical
!
Several commercial solutions
Lack of standards
Power transmissions and wiring
of household
!
"War of Currents"

20. Communication
Electromagnetism and Radio
Foundation for electronic
communications
!
New markets for communication
Telegraph
Phone
Wireless Telegraph

21. “What has God wrought”
Morse’s first message
from Baltimore to the U.S. capital
The Telegraph

22. The Telegraph
!
From the Greek words
tele = far and
graphein = write
(símriti)
!
Later to be called the
“Victorian Internet”

23. The Telegraph
Simple device with battery and key for sending
electric signals
!
At the other end was a similar device emitting sound
or printing the signal

24. The Telegraph
Samuel F. B. Morse invented the first practical
telegraph in 1837
!
Granted a patent 1838
!
Moore devised a telegraphic code consisting
of dots and dashes
!
Shorter and longer electric impulse send
down the wire - The Morse Code
!
Standardised messages

25. The Telegraph
The Telegraph Business was born
!
Morse sold licenses to companies that operated telegraph
stations
!
In 1851 there were over 50 companies in the US selling
telegraph services – including Western Union
!
Market consolidation

26. Study Exercise

27. “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you!”
- Alexander G. Bell, the first telephone
message
The Telephone

28. The Telephone
Invented in 1876
At the time, the telegraph was dominant
Transferred sound waves with electric
current over wire
!
Alexander G. Bell
Created the first practical telephone
!
Based on experiments and improvements
in technology at the time

29. The Telephone
Bell was working on the harmonic telegraph
!
A device that could send more then one telegraph message at the
same time
!
Worked with skilled machinist named Thomas A. Watson
!
Joseph Henry encouraged him in 1875 to work on the telephone
instread of the harmonic telegraph

30. The Telephone
The telephone was based on variable resistance
(breytilegu viðnámi)

31. The Importance of Patents
Bell filed a notice for a patent Feb. 14, 1876
“The most valuable patent ever issued”
Elisha Gray also filed a patent that same
day
!
The Patent Mystery
It is still a mystery what happened that day
Did Bell see Gray’s patent and update his?
Over 600 legal battles would challenge the
patent

32. Commercial Development
Bell had difficulty convincing contemporaries of the
usefulness of the telephone - the telegraph prevailed
!
Difficult to get investment
!
Bell offered the patent to Western Union
for $100.000 which they declined
!
Bell continued and slowly telephones
started to replace telegraphs

33. The Bell Company
In 1877 Bell and his backers formed the first Bell
Company
!
Gardiner Hubbard and George Sanders
!
Business model: Bell Company leased telephones
and licensed franchises
instead of selling them

34. The Battle with Western Union
Western Union was very powerful company – near-monopoly in telegraphs
with a huge network of wires
!
Western Union started competing with Bell in 1877
!
Founded American Speaking
Telephone Company with Thomas Edison,
Elisha Gray, Amos Dolbear
!
Made many improvements

35. The Battle with Western Union
Bell sued Western Union for patent infringements
!
The case was settled in 1879
!
Bell agreed not to go into the telegraph market, and Western Union agreed not to go
into the telephone market
!
Bell would buy Western Union’s telephone network with 50.000 subscribers in 50 cities
and pay a license
!
Stock in Bell’s company rose from $50 to $500 in 1879
!
At least 1.730 telephone companies organised and operated during Bell’s patent
protection

36. Emergence of a new Market
Within few years many telephone companies were formed
!
Bell licensed telephone equipment
!
In 1878
• First commercial switchboard started operation
• First telephone directory came out with fifty names
• The Ringing was invented – and patented

37. Patent Protection

38. Telephone Giant is born
AT&T
Founded in 1885 to raise capital to fund
the continued expansion and protect
the market position
Connected the RBOCs for long distance calls
!
Bell
Became the largest telephone company
In 1982 Bell was worth $256 billion
In 1984, split into AT&T and seven other
independent companies

39. “The wireless telegraph is not difficult to
understand. The ordinary telegraph is like a very
long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it
meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same,
only without the cat.”
- Albert Einstein
Wireless Communication

40. History
At the dawn of the 20th century, two mediums for communication
were dominant
!
The telegraph: Became important in the American Civil War
(1861-65), dominated by Western Union
!
The telephone: Dominant technology with the growth of Bell
!
Both these technologies had one problem: they were wire-based

41. History
Knowledge of radio waves is increasing
!
Hertz proved Maxwell’s theories and demonstrated the existence of radio
waves
!
Next steps
Commercial Solutions
Many tried to build devices that sent and received “Hertzian waves”
!
Wireless Telegraphy
“Spark Transmitter” for sending signals – Morse Code
The Prevailing Technology Trap

42. Innovators
Guglielmo Marconi saw an opportunity
in wireless communication
!
Studied physics at the University
of Bologna
!
Several experiments in 1894 in
Bologna, Italy
!
Marconi’s goal was to use his
knowledge developed in telephony

43. The Product
Marconi was improving the telegraph
!
“Spark Transmitter” where signals could represent the Morse
code
!
Potential market:
Maritime market – British Royal Navy
Transatlantic communication

44. Marconi Demonstrations
Marconi provided public trails of his equipment
!
Became a news item himself – provided interest in the technology
and investing in his company

45. Skepticism and Competition
Many scientists were happy to point out flaws in Marconi’s
inventions
Many tried to discredit his work
These were mostly scientists, others competitors
!
Doubts that wireless had any application
Limitations – radios worded on fixed frequency
Security – anyone could listen in
The telegraph was initially 20 times faster
!
Cable companies showed no interest in wireless

46. The Wireless Telegraph Bubble
Wireless Telegraph was popular in the press
Public demonstration
!
Many companies competed for stock funding
Resulted in Stock inflations
“The Wireless Telegraph bubble”
!
Sceptic voices started to respond
!
Series of articles in Success Magazine,
“Fools and their money”
appeared 1907

47. The Market
The market was where cables don’t work
Ships became the prime market
Airplanes when they became more common
Military use – where cables cannot be laid
Mobility – easy to move wireless equipment
!
Problems
No communication protocol was in use
Each company had their own protocol

48. Government Regulation
No regulations controlled the airwaves
The sinking of RMS Titanic prompted governments to set
international standards of communication
The Marconi operator on the Titanic sent “C.Q.D”
C.Q. meant attention, D was for Distress
SOS is ... - - - ...

51. Wireless Communication
Around 1940 ideas for wireless communication were established
!
40-50 years would pass before common practical application of a
mobile phone
!
It was not until the development of microchips and technology for
building devices, that wireless communication became
practical for individuals
!
Rules and cautiousness were to delay the progress
!
Also investments in land based systems

52. Wireless Communication
Wireless communication started early 20th century
Advanced during the wars
!
Wireless radio was important in WWII
Many innovations such as spread spectrum and
frequency hopping

53. Wireless Communication
After the war, use of wireless was
restricted to certain professions
– Military, Police, Fire Departments
– Taxis
Not public solutions

54. Mobile Radio Networks
The ideas for mobile radio networks were
developed in the 1940s
Area of radio cells – Cellular network
Early Systems
Bell Labs, AT&T
International systems

55. Wireless technology and the idea of
building a network of cells was
understood in 1940s. Why did the public
mobile phone not appear until in the
late 1970s, early 80s?

56. Adjacent Possible
TECHNICAL
CULTURAL
!
!
Big
Limited
Expensive
Political
Commercial

57. The Digital Revolution

58. Next
RISE OF THE MACHINE

59. Next
RISE OF THE MACHINE