Heroes Have you heard of Guglielmo Marconi?

Have you thought about who invented the wireless technology we use without a thought today?   he discovered information can travel by radio waves. The waves can then travel long distance between permanent powerful transmitters: 

Shrinking the World: Marconi’s Revolution in Wireless Telegraphy - News (allaboutcircuits.com)

Marconi's system used long-wave signals and spark transmitter technology, which required large, high-powered transmitters and long antennas. Despite those requirements, there were many advantages to his system, namely for communicating across open water.

In the late 1800s, communication at sea was extremely limited with communication through visuals like flags and light, which could often be obscured by distance and weather conditions. Those in the maritime industry saw the potential of Marconi's system and were eager to adopt it, which spurred even greater innovation.

Pushing the Limits of a Long-range Radio

After proving his concept to others and gaining their support, Marconi then set out to push the limits of how far his system could transmit. To show how far radiotelegraphy could travel, Marconi's newly-established Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd. created permanent stations across England and France's coastlines that utilized powerful transmitters and massive masts. Though these stations helped spread out the signal, they faced significant issues with interference.

Marconi created and patented a system for tuned or syntactic telegraphy to combat interference issues. This system allowed for selective wavelength tuning, which helped remove the issues ships were having with communication. This system also proved a fundamental principle: wireless waves were not affected by the earth's curvature. 

Eventually, Marconi established transatlantic communication from Nova Scotia, Canada, to Clifden, Ireland. With this achievement, Marconi's system proved to work for great distances and was used for commercial and military communication. One famous use of his system was the RSS Titanic, which used Marconi's system to send its infamous distress call.