The greatest inventors give us their discoveries. So, Popov A.S. gave the world radio.
Biography
The Urals gave us the greatest physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov. He was born into the family of a priest, so at the age of ten he was sent to the Dalmatov Theological School, then studied at the Yekaterinburg Theological School and the Perm Theological Seminary. Upon graduation, Alexander successfully passed the exams at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. It was not easy to study, there was not enough money, so the future inventor worked part-time as an electrician. He defended his dissertation on the topic “On the principles of magneto- and dynamoelectric DC machines.” Then he worked as a physics teacher and at the same time was engaged in experiments in physics and studied electromagnetic vibrations.
Over the years, Popov became a professor of physics at the Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III, and then its rector, an honorary electrical engineer, and an honorary member of the Russian Technical Society. His wife, Raisa Alekseevna Popova, was a doctor, and their children taught at school. The Popov family settled in a dacha near Lake Kubycha, three kilometers from Udomlya station.
The greatest invention of Popov A.S. - radio
Radio is a method of wireless communication that allows you to transmit and receive information over a distance using electromagnetic waves. Popov gave us this miracle.
As a part that directly “feels” electromagnetic waves, A.S. Popov used a coherer - a glass tube with two electrodes in which small metal filings were placed. The operation of the device is based on the effect of electrical discharges on metal powders. Thus, an electromagnetic wave creates an alternating current in the coherer high frequency, small sparks appear that sinter the sawdust, and the resistance of the coherer drops sharply. For automatic reception, Popov used a bell device to shake the coherer after receiving a signal, so that the adhesion between the metal filings weakened, and they were ready to receive the next signal. For the sensitivity of the device, the inventor grounded one of the coherer terminals and connected the other to a highly raised piece of wire, creating an antenna for wireless communication, and an oscillatory circuit appeared.
After the presentation of the device in 1895, Popov began to improve it and set out to build a device for transmitting signals over long distances. At first, radio communication was established at a distance of 250 m, then at 640 m, over 20 km, and in 1901 the radio communication range was already 150 km. This was achieved by making some changes to the apparatus - the spark gap was placed in an oscillating circuit, inductively coupled to the transmitting antenna and tuned to resonance with it. The methods of signal recording also changed - in parallel with the call, a telegraph apparatus was turned on, which made it possible to automatically record signals. This is how the introduction of radio communications began in the Russian navy and army; at first, fishermen who were carried out to sea were rescued with the help of radio.
There was interest in a similar device abroad, and the Italian engineer G. Marconi was involved in its improvement. Thus, thanks to large-scale experiments in the world, the first radiotelegraph transmission across the Atlantic Ocean took place.
RRussian physicist and electrical engineer
inventor of radio
Alexander Stepanovich Popov was born in the Urals in the village of Turinskie Rudniki in the family of a priest. There were six more children in the family. Alexander successfully graduated from theological school, seminary, and in 1882, university.
Popov became a professor at the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute, and then the director of this institute.
The history of radio begins with the world's first radio receiver, created in 1895 by Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov. He designed a device that responded to electromagnetic waves. At first, the receiver could only “feel” atmospheric electrical discharges from lightning. And then, he learned to receive and record on tape telegrams transmitted by radio.
5 years after the creation of the first receiver, a regular wireless communication line began to operate. Thanks to a radiogram transmitted over this line, in the winter of 1900, the icebreaker Ermak removed fishermen from the ice floe, who had been carried out to sea by a storm. Radio, which began its practical history by saving people, has become a new progressive form of communication.
Today it is difficult to imagine life without radio. All types of aircraft, sea and river vessels, and scientific expeditions are equipped with radio communications. Radio communication is used on railways, construction sites, in mines. Space radio communications make it possible to travel vast distances, and with its help we obtain valuable scientific information.
On January 13, 1906, the life of the scientist-genius who gave radio to humanity was cut short.
But radio is not only radiotelephone and radiotelegraph communications, radio broadcasting and television, but also radiolocation, radio astronomy, radio control and many other areas of technology that arose and are successfully developing thanks to the outstanding invention of our compatriot Alexander Stepanovich Popov.
And although modern radio engineering devices have little in common with their progenitor, the basic principles of operation still remain unchanged. Exactly the same as in the Popov receiver, modern device has an antenna that picks up the incoming wave. It is these incoming waves that cause electromagnetic oscillations, which are redistributed to control the sources that supply energy to subsequent circuits. Currently, this process is regulated using.
In many Western countries, Marconi is considered the inventor of radio, although other candidates are also named: in Germany Hertz is considered the creator of radio, in the USA and a number of Balkan countries- Nikola Tesla, in Belarus Y. O. Narkevich-Iodka.
Coherer - the basis of the first radio receiver
In his first radio receiver A.S. Popov used a coherer - a part that directly responded to incoming electromagnetic waves. The operation of the coherer was based on the reaction of metal powder to the emerging electrical discharge created by the incoming electromagnetic wave.
This device consisted of a glass tube and two electrodes, into which tiny metal filings were placed. In a quiet state, the coherer has a very high resistance, since the sawdust was not interlocked with each other. But when the incoming electromagnetic wave created a high-frequency alternating electric current in the coherer, sparks jumped between the sawdust and they became welded together. After this, the coherer resistance decreased sharply. The resistance value changed 100-200 times and dropped from 100,000 Ohms to 500-1000 Ohms.
Other elements of Popov's radio
To establish automatic signal reception, it was necessary to return the coherer to its original state, that is, to “uncouple” all the sawdust. For this, Popov used a bell device. The bell was turned on by a short circuit in the relay and the coherer shook. After this, the metal filings again became crumbly and were ready to receive the next signal.
To increase the efficiency of his invention, Popov used a highly raised piece of wire, to which he connected one of the coherer terminals, and grounded its other terminal. Thus, the conducting surface of the earth became part of an open oscillatory circuit, and the wire became the first antenna. This is what made it possible to increase the signal reception range.
Popov is also credited with the invention of the antenna, although Popov himself wrote that the use of a mast at the sending station and at the receiving station to transmit signals using electrical oscillations is the merit of Nikola Tesla.
Great and electrical engineer A.S. Popov was the first to see and appreciate the full significance of the use of electromagnetic waves in practice, in contrast to his foreign colleagues, who considered them only an interesting physical phenomenon.
Having devoted his life to electromagnetic waves, Alexander Popov not only developed radio, but also laid the foundation for current wireless data transmission technologies.
Biography of Alexander Popov
Alexander Popov belonged to a spiritual dynasty. Born on March 16, 1859 in a mining village in the Perm province in the family of a priest. The elder brother taught Latin at the Dolmatovo Theological School. The sister married a priest who held a responsible post in the Yekaterinburg diocese. And five other brothers and sisters also had one thing or another to do with the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church. And this family ministry began in ancient times. Hence the family surname - Popov.
Alexander Stepanovich studied at the Dolmatovsky Theological School for two years. Then he transferred to the third grade of the Yekaterinburg Theological School. And, finally, the Perm Theological Seminary.
However, things did not come to the point of being ordained. After graduating from general education classes in 1877, Popov radically changed his fate by entering the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. Which upset my father a lot.
It is clear that such a sharp turn did not happen overnight. Even in his adolescence, Popov became interested in physics and the technical miracles that it promises for humanity. The time was like this - the era of steam and coal was ending, the era of electricity was beginning.
During his student years, Alexander Popov worked part-time as an electrician on lighting installations. He led excursions at the St. Petersburg Electric Exhibition, introducing visitors to the operating principles and features of certain machines.
After university, the young scientist became a teacher of mathematics, physics and electrical engineering at the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt. There was an excellent laboratory base for practicing practical electrical engineering. And in 1890, Alexander Stepanovich Popov was invited to lecture on physics at the Technical School of the Maritime Department in Kronstadt.
Even in his adolescence, Popov became interested in physics and the technical miracles that it promises for humanity. The time was like this - the era of steam and coal was ending, the era of electricity was beginning.
Hertz vibrator
Alexander Popov's scientific interests belonged to problems shaped by the discoveries of outstanding British physicists Michael Faraday and James Maxwell, the fathers of the theory of electromagnetic induction. His university graduate work was devoted to research into “the conditions for the most advantageous operation of a dynamo-electric machine.” He was actively involved in the problem of electricity. Every summer he came to the Nizhny Novgorod fair, where he supervised the work of the department electrical installations. Later, under a contract with joint stock company "Electrician" led the construction of power plants in Moscow, Ryazan and other Russian cities.
There was a period when Popov became so fascinated by the newly discovered X-rays that he created an X-ray tube of his own design and took the first X-rays in Russia, or, as they were called then, “hidden” photographs. On his initiative, advanced high-tech equipment was introduced at the Kronstadt Hospital for diagnostic purposes. The doctors did not understand well the principles of operation of the unprecedented technology, but quickly appreciated it.
The theory of reception and transmission of electromagnetic waves was fully developed in the first half of the 19th century, primarily by the same Faraday and Maxwell. The idea of a wireless telegraph was in the air.
The German physicist Heinrich Hertz has already demonstrated a vibrator he invented, through which a wave is generated “in a spark-like manner.” The Hertz vibrator is the first radio transmitter in history, or rather, its immediate predecessor. There were also electromagnetic wave receivers, but they all operated at a distance of no more than 10 meters and could only serve as demonstration devices during lectures.
Popov in 1892 made his own transmitter, which differed from the Hertz vibrator by the presence of a spark gap placed in a vessel with oil, an induction coil and - which was fundamentally important - an antenna in the form of two square metal sheets with a side length of 40 cm.
In 1893, Popov visited the International Electrical Exhibition in Chicago. There he touched with his own hands and tested the equipment of Hertz and other scientists working in the field of studying and practical application electromagnetic waves.
Having studied the overseas experience, assessed the positive results and discerned the dead-end branches along which some inventors rushed, Popov continued his research in St. Petersburg with renewed energy.
Radio day
If everything was more or less clear with the transmitter, then with the receiver we had to tinker. Ultimately, Popov settled on the coherer of the English physicist Oliver Lodge as an indicator of electromagnetic waves. This device was a glass tube with metal filings, which, when waves passed through them, “stuck together” and sharply reduced the resistance electric current, which was recorded by the galvanometer needle.
An undoubtedly effective coherer had one significant drawback: before receiving the next wave, the tube had to be shaken thoroughly to “fluff” the sawdust. Lodge solved this problem by installing an electric bell on a common plate with the coherer. When a signal was received, the bell shook the sawdust due to the vibration running along the plate. However, the system did not work reliably: approximately every fifth pulse did not shake the sawdust properly, and “sticking” occurred.
By 1895, Popov managed to cope with this task. He placed the bell hammer in a neutral position between the sawdust tube and the cup. Now the call clearly registered every wave coming from the airwaves. Subsequently, the inventor attached the receiving device to a telegraph apparatus that recorded information transmitted in Morse code. Another essential element- a three-meter antenna, which has increased the sensitivity of the receiving circuit several times.
In the spring of 1895, Alexander Stepanovich tested his design. In the Mine Officer Class garden, by changing the relative position of the receiver and transmitter, he achieved reliable reception of electromagnetic signals at a distance of up to 80 meters.
And on May 7 (April 25, old style) 1895, Popov presented his invention at a meeting of the physics department Russian Physical and Chemical Society (RFCS), conducting a visual radio communication session at a distance of 64 meters. A few days later, the Kronstadt Messenger newspaper responded to this significant event with a note. In the January issue of the “Journal of the RFKhO” for 1896, a detailed article by Popov was published with detailed description transmitter and receiver. In the same year, his publications appeared in the magazines “Electricity” and “Meteorological Bulletin”. Abstracts of the article were also published in a number of reputable foreign journals.
Further events developed as follows. In March 1896, Popov made another report to the Russian Federal Chemical Society, and in addition, he connected his apparatus with a telegraph and transmitted a two-word radiogram over a distance of 250 meters: “Heinrich Hertz.” These words were imprinted on a tape that is kept in the Popov Museum.
Italian Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated the transmission of radio telegrams over a distance of 3 kilometers on September 2, 1895. At the end of the same month, he was issued a patent for the invention of a transceiver radio device. So who invented the radio, Popov or Marconi?
This dispute will apparently continue forever. Supporters of Marconi's priority argue that there is no documentary evidence of the operation of Popov's equipment before December 1897. The records of St. Petersburg professors that they observed the transmission of radio signals and wireless telegrams in both 1895 and 1896 are not taken into account. In fact, of course, the invention of radio is a collective achievement, which humanity owes to Popov, Marconi, Hertz, Lodge, Faraday and Maxwell, and the hitherto unmentioned Nikola Tesla. But Popov was subsequently more careful about his copyrights. In particular, in 1901 he patented a device for receiving radiograms on headphones. And in Russia, Radio Day is celebrated on May 7 - in honor of the day in 1895 when Alexander Popov presented his invention to his colleagues.
On May 7, 1895, Popov presented his invention at a meeting of the physics department of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society, conducting a radio communication session at a distance of 64 meters.
Live
Since 1897, Popov has been actively introducing wireless telegraphy on naval vessels. At the same time, he is constantly improving the equipment, increasing the range and clarity of signal reception. In 1898, wireless communication was established between the training ship "Europe" and the cruiser "Africa" at a distance of 10 kilometers. Three years later, the range of maritime radio communications already exceeds 150 kilometers, and more than two dozen ship radio stations operate on a permanent basis in the Russian fleet.
In 1899, the battleship Admiral General Apraksin ran aground off the island of Gotland. To carry out large-scale rescue work A fixed radio connection was established between Gotland and the island of Kutsalo (47 km), which was connected by cable to St. Petersburg through intermediate telegraph stations. The Gotland-Kutsalo radio link operated for 84 days. During this time, 440 official radiograms were transmitted and received. Messages from private individuals were also transmitted. This marked the beginning of the civilian use of radio communications.
In 1900, the Naval Ministry allocated significant funds for the installation of ship radio stations and the training of relevant specialists. And Popov, at the request of the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral S. O. Makarov, was paid a bonus in the amount of 33 thousand rubles.
The inventor was invited as a professor at the Department of Physics of the Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III. In 1905, the scientific council of the institute elected Popov as rector. He was also an honorary member of the Imperial Russian Technical Society, chairman of the Physics Department and president of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society. And in 1901 he became a state councilor.
Among his awards are the Order of St. Anne of the 3rd and 2nd degree, the Order of St. Stanislaus, and the medal “In memory of the reign of Emperor Alexander III.” And Golden medal The Paris World Industrial Exhibition of 1900 - Popov received this award for a ship's radio station, mass-produced by the Parisian company of Eugene Ducretet.
Alexander Stepanovich Popov died suddenly on December 31, 1906 from a cerebral hemorrhage. He passed away in the prime of his creative powers, without having time to realize whole line planned scientific and technical activities to introduce radio transmission into all spheres of human activity. But what he managed to do is more than enough to rank him among the pantheon of great inventors.
Humanity owes the invention of radio to the great Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov.
Biography of Popov A.S. - the great inventor of radio
A. S. Popov, the man who had the good fortune to open new era in the development of science and technology - the era of radio electronics, was born 100 years ago, on March 16, 1859, in the small Ural village of Turinskie Rudniki. He received his secondary education at the Perm Theological Seminary. After graduating from the seminary, A. S. Popov entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at St. Petersburg University and became interested in electrical engineering. After graduating from the university with a candidate’s degree, Alexander Stepanovich was left at the faculty to prepare “for the rank of professor.”
A year later, A.S. Popov was invited to teach at the Kronstadt Mine Officer Class. He worked there for 18 years, from 1883 to 1901.
In this advanced electrical engineering institution, Popov's pedagogical abilities and his brilliant talent as an experimental physicist reached their peak.
All yours free time Alexander Stepanovich gave to science - he followed new products, carried out experiments, and gave public lectures.
Alexander Popov and radio
May 7, 1895. Petersburg. Russian Physical and Chemical Society. A. S. Popov, already well known in the scientific community, gives a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations.”
The modest name is emphasized. A quiet voice, devoid of external affectation. Stingy gestures. And at the end there is only one phrase:
“In conclusion, I can express the hope that my device, with further improvement, can be applied to the transmission of signals over a distance using fast electrical oscillations...”
Just one phrase. And, perhaps, none of those present realized its significance. I didn’t understand that this was the birth of a new era, the forerunner of grandiose scientific achievements.
From the history of radio
For a long time, people have dreamed of a means that would allow them to maintain communication with each other at any distance.
Historians say that even during the time of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar, who lived BC, there was some kind of telegraph - the first milestone in radio history. Dispatches were transmitted using torches, according to a conventional alphabet. For example, waving a torch upward meant: “the enemy is approaching,” moving the torch to the right: “everything is calm,” etc. Signals were transmitted along a chain from one post to another.
What to do in bad weather, in fog? In this case, Caesar’s “telegraph,” like later optical telegraph systems, was powerless.
Years passed. Amazing works of art were created, palaces were erected, discoveries were made. The man studied inquisitively the world, learned the laws of nature. And the dream of a wonderful means of communication remained just a wonderful dream for many centuries.
But then scientists discovered electricity - and this is the second milestone in the history of radio. A thought immediately arose: could it be used as a kind of “postman”, delivering dispatches with lightning speed? It turned out that it is possible. They learned to transmit conventional electrical signals through wires, and then live human speech. By leaps and bounds, cities began to become increasingly densely covered with a network of telephone lines; Lines of telegraph poles stretched along the roads - the third milestone in the history of radio.
Still, the telegraph and telephone did not satisfy many human requirements. They served tolerably well in cities, provided communications between populated areas, and that’s all. It was not possible to escape into a wide open space - the wires got in the way, these wire fetters that tied the new means of communication hand and foot. Sailors, explorers, aeronauts remained in the same position - they, as before, were cut off from the outside world, left to their own devices,
At the end of the nineteenth century, when electrical engineering had already achieved quite high level, scientists began to wonder more and more often: is it possible to free the telegraph and telephone from their shackles, to do without wires at all? Many prominent physicists of the time tried to solve this puzzle and gave up. Is wireless communication even possible?
Popov's invention of radio
In 1889, A.S. Popov was present at the next meeting of the Russian Physicochemical Society during experiments with electromagnetic waves- fast electrical oscillations propagating through space at the speed of light (about 300,000 kilometers per second). The existence of such waves was theoretically predicted by the English scientist Maxwell, and the German physicist Hertz discovered them empirically. However, these great scientists believed that electromagnetic waves had no practical significance.
The meeting room was darkened. At the department, in dim light kerosene lamp, two hard reflectors gleamed. Inside one of them, on close range from each other, two metal balls were visible, from which wires ran to a source of electricity. It was a vibrator - a device that “generates” electromagnetic waves. Inside the other reflector there were also two metal balls. They were connected by a wire arc. This device - a resonator - was intended to capture electromagnetic waves.
The experiment began in complete darkness. A tiny bluish spark flashed between the vibrator balls connected to the source of electricity. At the same moment, a response spark appeared between the resonator balls. She was so weak that those present had to take turns examining her through a magnifying glass.
The spark in the resonator was generated by electromagnetic waves. And Alexander Stepanovich Popov decided to use them for wireless communication.
Six years have passed. Six years of persistent search, persistent daily work. But the words “wireless communication” finally acquired a real meaning and turned from an ethereal dream into a complete technical idea.
That's why May 7, 1895 when this idea became the property of mankind, they believe birthday radio.
And after another year - March 24, 1896- A.S. Popov demonstrated the world's first wireless telegraph communication to scientists. A receiver was installed in the physics room of St. Petersburg University, and at a distance of 250 meters from it, in the building of the university chemical laboratory, there was a transmitter controlled by P. N. Rybkin, Popov’s assistant.
This is what one of the eyewitnesses of this historical event, Professor O. D. Khvolson, subsequently said:
“The transmission took place in such a way that the letters were transmitted in Morse code, and the signs were clearly audible. The chairman of the physical society, Professor F. F. Petrushevsky, stood at the blackboard, holding a piece of paper with a Morse code key and a piece of chalk in his hands. After each sign passed, he looked at the paper and then wrote the corresponding letter on the board. Gradually the words appeared on the board: “Heinrich Hertz.” It is difficult to describe the delight of the numerous people present and the ovation for A. S. Popov...”
Already in the next year, 1897, the range of wireless telegraphs exceeded 5 kilometers. The viability of the new means of communication has been proven. Great Russian Popov's invention of radio began its triumphal march around the world. But in conditions Tsarist Russia A. S. Popov did not have sufficient support; There weren't enough funds, so we had to make handicrafts. And abroad, clever businessmen like Marconi were in a hurry to take advantage of the fruits of the great discovery. Factories were built, companies emerged, and business was put on a broad commercial footing.
Subsequently, the Russian physicist V.V. Lermantov wrote with bitterness: “We only inculcate what comes from abroad, even if it was invented in Russia - that’s why the name of A.S. Popov became known after the works of Marconi, and he received the honor of being considered not merely the first inventor of the wireless telegraph, but the first inventor of the Marconi telegraph.”
Yes, the tsarist government did not appreciate A.S. Popov and did not defend his priority. However, Russian scientists, the leading part of the Russian intelligentsia, paid tribute to the colossal scientific merit of the inventor of radio.
In 1901, Alexander Stepanovich became a professor at the Electrical Engineering Institute and was awarded the honorary title of electrical engineer. And on September 28, 1905, he was unanimously elected director of the institute.
In this post, A.S. Popov showed himself to be a progressive and freedom-loving person, a patriot of his fatherland.
The last days of A. S. Popov
...The resolution of 1905 died down. The time has come for a massive reaction. And in these dark days for Russia, Alexander Stepanovich raised his voice of protest against autocratic tyranny. In October 1905, he signs the council's decision, which states:
“According to the professors and teachers of the institute, freedom of assembly is an urgent need and an inalienable right of the entire population...
Any violent intervention by the authorities into the life of the institute cannot give peace, but will only worsen the situation. The calming down of educational institutions can only be achieved through major political changes, capable of satisfying public opinion throughout the country.
Such transformations, in the opinion of the undersigned, are: immediate and unconditional guarantees of freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and personal integrity, the immediate convening of the Constituent Assembly, the abolition of the death penalty...”
The subsequent days of Alexander Stepanovich were full of tragic experiences. They demanded explanations from him, they threatened him, but he did not retreat a single step. After one particularly stormy conversation with the mayor A.S. Popov felt ill and, after being ill for two days, died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
This happened on January 13, 1906 (December 31, 1905 old style) at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. And this last date in the biography of Popov, the great inventor of radio.
The great Russian scientist rests in the Volkov cemetery in Leningrad.
On January 24, 1906, opening an emergency meeting of the physics department of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, of which A.S. Popov was elected chairman shortly before, his deputy said:
“Alexander Stepanovich Popov, who should now, since January, take the place of our chairman here, is a new victim of the modern unbearably difficult living conditions in Russia.”
...More than a century has passed. Annually May 7 we are celebrating Radio day. City streets are named after the great inventor; it has been assigned to many educational institutions. But, perhaps, the best monument to Alexander Stepanovich Popov is the tremendous development that his invention received. In fact, modern life unthinkable without radio invention by Popov.
