Marconi or Stubblefield

[A#1]

I guess I will go along with the latter, Nathan B. Stubblefield from the outskirts of Murray, Kentucky, the unofficial birthplace of radio, correct? From the "just wondering" category. When the government took over the radio airwaves, did the Stubblefields benefit monetarily thru some sort of buyout or future royalties or did the government just take it away? Considering what the government makes nowadays from it's sale of frequency, I would think the Stubblefield heirs could have made off quite well. I know, too much eggnog, but I was just wondering out loud. You all have a good one!

 

[Tom Wells]

From what I recall Stubblefield died without a cent.
His system seemed to use some kind of induction coils so there is still argument over whether any real RF was being produced,
and if so, how. Far too many witnesses saw Nathan's invention for it to be a hoax. so what was it?

I will still give Mr. Stubblefield the benefit of the doubt in inventing "radio".

Marconi invented the "wireless telegraph".

 

[slick81]

Dr. Ray Mofield used to talk about this in his "Broadcast Management" class at Murray State. The best guesses are that Nathan B. Stubblefield invented something akin to a wireless telephone. I seem to remember Dr Mofield saying that his contraption involved sticking rods into the earth and being able to communicate wirelessly over several miles, but there were no transmitters or RF involved so you can't say it was "radio".

But the local radio station, WNBS, is named after him just the same.

And I think the legend about being found with his cats is supposed to be true as well.