RF History

RF and Electromagnetism in general is such a rich field filled with many beautiful concepts, equations, and phenomena. It's so rich and beautiful, we sometimes forget the history behind it and the individuals that made the field what it is today.

Enter James Clerk Maxwell - born in Scotland in 1831 and attended the University of Cambridge in his later years. In 1873, Maxwell came to the conclusion that light was a form of electromagnetic energy. From this conclusion came his famous (then 12) equations for electromagnetism. The mathematical framework for electromagnetism has now been defined for the first time in history - shattering the physics community of the time. Following Mr. Maxwell, Oliver Heavisde, an English mathematician, simplified Maxwell's 12 equations to the 4 equations we know today. 

By this point, the mathematical and theoretical framework has been established to explain electromagnetic wave propagation. Now, it was time for the scientific community to prove it physically

Enter Heinrich Hertz, a German physicist. In 1887, Hertz was the first to apply Maxwell's equations to various experiments in his lab and proved that Maxwell and Heavisde were correct in their assumption that these electromagnetic waves exist. From Hertz's experiments, he was able to measure the velocity of these waves, observe the first electromagnetic interferences, prove these waves can reflect, refract, diffract, and polarize, and detect the presence of standing waves. These experiments provided the first, direct, physical evidence of the existence of these EM waves, validating Maxwell's equations and laying the groundwork for modern RF and wireless communications.

Needless to say, Maxwell, Heaviside, and Hertz redefined physics in their time and we owe them a tip of the hat to modern, RF based technology.