Abstract
In 1885, Thomas Edison added to his already substantial tally of 141 patents in telegraphy, a patent for sending telegraph messages without wires. This invention, he claimed, would enable communication “between distant points … by induction without the use of wires connecting such distant points” (Fig. 8.1). Despite Edison’s patent predating Heinrich Hertz’s electromagnetic radiation experiments by 3 years and Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless telegraphy by ten, Edison did nothing with the invention. Given Edison’s ability to make much of very little, as he did with the Phonograph, it was uncharacteristic that he did not exploit this revolutionary invention and become known as the inventor of wireless telegraphy. Instead of developing it, Edison sold the patent rights to Marconi. The reason for Edison’s ambivalence is to be found in a controversial incident 10 years earlier.
Some of this chapter appeared previously in Ian Wills, “Edison and Science: A Curious Result,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 40, no. June (2009).
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Notes
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Wills, I. (2019). Scientific Failure: Etheric Force. In: Thomas Edison: Success and Innovation through Failure. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol 52. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29940-8_8
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