| 1757-1775 | Benjamin Franklin works in London |
| 1799 | Volta invents electrical battery |
| 1838 | Morse demonstrates telegraphy |
| 1861 | Transcontinental telegraph by wire |
| 1866 | Transatlantic cable
County Kerry transatlantic cable station |
| 1876 | Bell invents telephone |
| 1883 | Edison invents the Edison effect |
| 1886 | Hertz produces and detects electric waves |
| 1894 | Lodge invents Coherer with 200 mile range |
| 1897 | J.J.Thompson discovers the electron |
| 1899 | Wireless telegraphy |
| 1901 | Reception of transatlantic radio signals in Newfoundland from Marconi in the U.K. |
| 1902 | Poulsen-Arc radio transmitter |
| 1903 | Triode invented |
| 1904 | Radio alternator designed |
| 1906 | Catwhisker crystal detector invented
Sound broadcast combines voice and music
RF Continuous-wave alternator developed |
| 1909 | Shoshone transmission line |
| 1912 | RF generator invented |
| 1914 | American Radio Relay League founded |
| 1918 | Superheterodyne receiver invented |
| 1920 | Westinghouse radio station KDKA broadcasts at Pittsburgh |
| 1924 | RCA superheterodyne sold in stores
Directive shortwave antenna invented |
| 1925 | Human features transmitted by television
Pioneers work on radar |
| 1927 | Working television demonstrated |
| 1928 | One-way police radio communication |
| 1931 | Radioastronomy founded by detection of radio waves from the center of our Milky Way galaxy
Voice of Australia first broadcaster in Southern Hemisphere |
| 1932 | Radio is important in U.S. Hoover vs. Roosevelt presidential campaign |
| 1933 | Two-way police radio communication
German Ministry of Popular Education and Propaganda controls broadcasting
FM invented by Edwin H. Armstrong |
| 1934 | Long range shortwave voice transmission from Byrd Antarctic Expedition
Law limits broadcasting in India
U.S. Federal Communications Act sets up FCC |
| 1935 | Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay radio agreement
International Wireless Committee code of good conduct for international broadcasts
Japan broadcasts to America |
| 1936 | BBC airs first news story -- fire at London's Crystal Palace |
| 1937 | U.S. Radio Code
Radios have pushbuttons
The first experimental FM radio station, W1XOJ, construction begins.
Radiotelescope used to find the first discrete radio sources beyond Earth and map the natural radio signals across the Milky Way |
| 1938 | CBS broadcasts Orson Welles' "Invasion From Mars" from H.G. Wells's "War of the Worlds" |
| 1939 | Baseball televised
Germany transmits internationally in 26 languages, while listening in Germany to foreign broadcast is a capital offense
Atanasoff-Berry computer developed
Television displayed at the New York’s World Fair at Flushing Meadows, Queens.
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| 1940s | World War II brings radar and other electronics which stimulate radioastronomy |
| 1940 | FM police radio communication
French General de Gaulle broadcasts from BBC to France
Sudan radio serves World War II Allies
News broadcasts in six languages on African Gold Coast |
| 1941 | U.S. Col. W. Donovan commission combats Axis radio propaganda
Switzerland broadcasts support International Red Cross
Opana radar site built |
| 1942 | Voice of America shortwave broadcasts in English, French, Italian, German |
| 1942-1945 | US Naval Computing Machine Laboratory |
| 1943 | BBC broadcasts English lessons
American Forces Network on the air |
| 1944 | BBC broadcasts coded messages to Fench resistance before D-Day |
| 1945 | Yugoslavia broadcasts
Military controls broadcasting in Soviet-occupied Germany
Astronomers develop radioastronomy
Japan's Emperor announces his country's surrender in his first radio broadcast |
| 1946 | First and brightest radio source beyond our galaxy, Cygnus A, discovered
U.S. Army Signal Corps bounces radar beam off Moon
Transistor invented will make small radios commercially feasible
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) turned on |
| 1946-1953 | Black-and-white television reaches a broad American viewing audience in their homes.
U.S. develops monochrome-compatible electronic color television |
| 1950-1969 | Electronic technology applied to spaceflight |
| 1951 | Color television introduced in U.S.
Transistors manufactured
Electromagnetic radiation discovered coming from interstellar hydrogen at a radio wavelength of 21 cm |
| 1953 | FCC approves color television system
First amateur radio moonbounce |
| 1956 | Germanium transistor commercialized |
| 1957 | Beeping radio signal from Sputnik 1, Earth's first artificial satellite |
| 1959 | Radio signal from first human-made object to leave Earth, USSR probe Luna 1
Radio signal from first human-made object to reach another world, USSR probe Lunik 2 on the Moon
Radio-photos from first spacecraft to go behind the Moon, USSR probe Lunik 3
The integrated circuit (IC) is introduced
First communication satellite, Echo, launched by US |
| 1960 | First radio-photos of Earth weather from orbit |
| 1961 | First human communication from space
First amateur radio satellite |
| 1962 | Transatlantic reception of television signal via satellite
Radio signal from first human-made object to reach another planet, Mariner 2 at Venus
Telstar communications satellite |
| 1963 | First female human communication from space
Arecibo radiotelescope |
| 1965 | Radio signal from human-made object at Mars, Mariner 4 |
| 1969 | Human communication from the Moon
The Internet begins |
| 1971 | Human communication from a space station |
| 1973 | Radio signal from human-made object at Jupiter, Pioneer 10 |
| 1974 | Radio signal from human-made object at Mercury, Mariner 10 |
| 1976 | Personal computer market is born |
| 1979 | Radio signal from human-made object at Saturn, Pioneer 11 |
| 1981 | Human communication from a space shuttle
Sony introduces consumer synthesized radio receiver |
| 1983 | Radio signal from spacecraft leaving the Solar System, Pioneer 10
Direct broadcast TV |
| 1986 | Cellular phones become international business
Radio signal from human-made object at Uranus, Voyager 2 |
| 1989 | Radio signal from human-made object at Neptune, Voyager 2
World Wide Web invented |
| 1992 | XM Satellite Radio |
| 1993 | Mosaic Web browser and Web pages |
| 1994 | Yahoo!
Internet radio broadcasting
Internet television broadcasting |
| 1995 | Wikis
Digital signal processing receiver |
| 1999 | Sirius Satellite Radio |
| 1997 | Blogging |
| 1998 | Google |
| 2001 | Wikipedia
Apple iPod
Kazaa file-sharing service
Software radio chips |
| 2003 | iTunes music service online
Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) – digital AM radio with FM-quality sound
Second Life
MySpace |
| 2004 | Facebook
Podcasting |
| 2005 | YouTube |
| 2006 | Twitter |
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Sources:
ARRL,
IEEE,
Monitoring Times,
Popular Communications,
K3RXK
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