Wireless Phones: An Infamous Prediction Comes True

 





More than 100 years ago, a Serbian-American engineer and futurist predicted a wireless future in the communications industry. Best known for his contributions and inventions in the electrical supply system, Nikola Tesla told the New York Times in 1909 that “it will soon be possible to transmit wireless messages all over the world so simple that any individual can carry and operate his own apparatus” (Windsor, 1909). At the time, his predictions on the future of telecommunications simply baffled people as it was way beyond one’s comprehension. How someone would be able to dictate words through a small device and be heard on the opposite side of the world was something no one can wrap their heads around. Tesla continued to explain how speeches, songs, sermons, lectures, and more will be delivered to people around the world with no wires and no physical presence. Sure enough, around 30 years later, mobile phones were introduced, and soon after the world’s first cellular network was launched. 


One of the major forces of this innovation that pushed its success was the short longevity and lack of effectiveness of the current solution, at the time. The use of electric waves was “quickly damped out in their passage through the air”, which hindered the ability to communicate over long distances (Windsor, 1909). In addition, with the expansion of business across the world, and the need of more effective means of communication for economic and political matters, a solution like wireless phones was sparking a huge light. Keeping the world in touch with each other, at any time and from anywhere, quickly became a need more than a want. 


At the time of his prediction, Tesla was also experimenting with a “model of a boat operated by electric power transmitted without wires” (Windsor, 1909). With this experiment, it was concluded that boat movements may be managed and controlled remotely, from a centralized location where electrical connections were not required. Trade and economic forces, in this scenario, pushed this prediction and experimentation forward to allow boats to move across an ocean, at high speed, and completely wirelessly. As we see today, this is nothing short from reality and certainly a prediction that came true soon after. 


Reference

Windsor, H. (1909, October). Popular Mechanics. Google Books. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://books.google.com/books?id=nN8DAAAAMBAJ&vq=tesla&source=gbs_navlinks_s

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