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In St. Louis, Missouri, Nikola Tesla made the first public demonstration of such a system in 1893. Addressing the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and the National Electric Light Association, he described and demonstrated in detail the principles of wireless telegraphy. The apparatus that he used contained all the elements that were incorporated into radio systems before the development of the vacuum tube.

The later derived system to achieve widespread use was demonstrated by Guglielmo Marconi in 1896, though it had roots in earlier work by many scientists and inventors. As far back as Faraday and Hertz in the early 1800s, it was clear to most scientists that wireless communication was possible, and many people worked on developing many devices and improvements. For instance, in 1832, James Bowman LindsayJames Bowman Lindsay ( 1799- 1862) was born in Carmyllie near Arbroath in Angus, Scotland. He was responsible for several innovations which were not developed until long after his death, including the electric light bulb, submarine telegraphy and arc weld gave a classroom demonstration of wireless telegraphy to his students. By 1854Events January 13 The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas. February 11 Major streets lit by coal gas for first time. February 14 Texas is linked by telegraph with the rest of the United States, when a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas i he was able to demonstrate transmission across the Firth of TayThe Firth of Tay is a firth in Scotland between the regions of Fife and City of Dundee into to which Scotland's largest river in terms of flow, the River Tay empties. Two bridges span the firth, the Tay Road Bridge and the Tay Rail Bridge. Towns and villa from Dundee to Woodhaven (now part of Newport-on-Tay), a distance of two miles. Marconi and Braun shared the 1909Events January 5 Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. January 16 Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole. January 28 United States troops leave Cuba after being there since the Spanish-American War. February 12 The National Nobel Prize in physics for "contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy".

A few decades later, the term radioFor other uses see: radio (disambiguation Radio is a technology that allows the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of light. Radio waves Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic radiation, and are became more popular. Early radio could not transfer sounds, only Morse codeMorse code is a system of representing letters, numbers and punctuation marks by means of a code signal sent intermittently. It was developed by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail in 1835. Morse code is an early form of digital communication; however, unlike mo in the tones made by rotary spark gaps.

Canadian-American scientist Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was the first to wirelessly transmit a human voice (his own). Read more about History of radio.

The ultimate development of wireless telegraphy was telex on radio. The most advanced form ( CCITT R.44 ) automated both routing and encoding of messages over short wave radio. Telex on radio was invented in the 1940s, and was for many years the only reliable way to reach many distant contries (See telegraphy for more information).

A good source of history is the book Syntony and Spark: the Origins of Radio, Hugh G. J. Aitken, BooksEnthsiast.com.