Jeffrey Sichaleune
Educational Timeline
The past
Today we seem to take for granted the use of electricity. Before it was invented, many people actually turned to religion to understand electricity because it was so amazing. Electricity precedes many of the other inventions that revolutionize communication. Without electricity today, telecommunications would not be possible. Innovations in electricity have allowed us to run computers, power the cellular phones we use, and even give humans light so that we can read and write at night. Although Benjamin Franklin, Hans Christian Oersted, Luigi Galvani, and Alessandro Volta have all made discoveries regarding the use of electricity, Michael Faraday was the first person to discover . On August 29, 1831, using his "induction ring", Michael Faraday made one of his greatest discoveries - electromagnetic induction. This was the basis of how we come to understand and use electricity today.
Links:
http://www.science-tech.nmstc.ca/english/schoolzone/Info_Electricity.cfm#discover
http://www.iee.org.uk/TheIEE/Research/Archives/faraday1.cfm
The telegraph is the first machine to take advantage of discoveries in electricity for communication. "What hath God wrought!" is the first message transmitted from Baltimore to Washington DC on May 24, 1844 through the telegraph. For the first time, communication is separated from traditonal methods of transportation, such as railroads, boats, and horses.
Links:
http://www.inventorsmuseum.com/telegraph.htm
http://www.allsands.com/History/Objects/historyofthet_ahg_gn.htm
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/pages/jb_0524_morsecod_1.html
The (very near) future
There is current legislation over what to do with the digital television spectrum. The reason that digital television spectrum is so important is that it is so much more powerful than the quality of television we are accustomed to and it will revolutionize the way people think of television. It can also be used to improve the quality of radio and cellular phones. In May of 2003, all public television stations must convert to digital according to the Corporation of Public Broadcast.
Links:
http://www.cpb.org/digital/tv/whatis/
http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dtvtech/
http://www.nhptv.org/dtv/bigpic.shtml