Alexander Popov scientist biography. A

The greatest inventors give us their discoveries. So, Popov A.S. gave the world radio.

Biography

The Urals gave us the greatest physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov. He was born into the family of a priest, so at the age of ten he was sent to the Dalmatov Theological School, then studied at the Yekaterinburg Theological School and the Perm Theological Seminary. Upon graduation, Alexander successfully passed the exams at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. It was not easy to study, there was not enough money, so the future inventor worked part-time as an electrician. He defended his dissertation on the topic “On the principles of magneto- and dynamoelectric machines.” direct current" Then he worked as a physics teacher and at the same time was engaged in experiments in physics and studied electromagnetic vibrations.

Over the years, Popov became a professor of physics at the Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III, and then its rector, an honorary electrical engineer, and an honorary member of the Russian Technical Society. His wife, Raisa Alekseevna Popova, was a doctor, and their children taught at school. The Popov family settled in a dacha near Lake Kubycha, three kilometers from Udomlya station.

The greatest invention of Popov A.S. - radio

Radio is the way wireless communication, which allows you to transmit and receive information over a distance via electromagnetic waves. Popov gave us this miracle.

As a part that directly “feels” electromagnetic waves, A.S. Popov used a coherer - a glass tube with two electrodes in which small metal filings were placed. The operation of the device is based on the effect of electrical discharges on metal powders. Thus, an electromagnetic wave creates an alternating current in the coherer high frequency, small sparks appear that sinter the sawdust, and the resistance of the coherer drops sharply. For automatic reception, Popov used a bell device to shake the coherer after receiving a signal, so that the adhesion between the metal filings weakened, and they were ready to receive the next signal. For the sensitivity of the device, the inventor grounded one of the coherer terminals and connected the other to a highly raised piece of wire, creating an antenna for wireless communication, and an oscillatory circuit appeared.

After the presentation of the device in 1895, Popov began to improve it and set out to build a device for transmitting signals over long distances. At first, radio communication was established at a distance of 250 m, then at 640 m, over 20 km, and in 1901 the radio communication range was already 150 km. This was achieved by making some changes to the apparatus - the spark gap was placed in oscillatory circuit, inductively coupled to the transmitting antenna and tuned into resonance with it. The methods of signal recording also changed - in parallel with the call, a telegraph apparatus was turned on, which made it possible to automatically record signals. This is how the introduction of radio communications began in the Russian navy and army; at first, fishermen who were carried out to sea were rescued with the help of radio.

There was interest in a similar device abroad, and the Italian engineer G. Marconi was involved in its improvement. Thus, thanks to large-scale experiments in the world, the first radiotelegraph transmission across the Atlantic Ocean took place.

Alexander Stepanovich Popov (1859 - 1906) - Russian physicist and electrician, professor. From 1905 to 1906 he was director of the St. Petersburg Imperial Electrotechnical Institute of Alexander III (now St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI")

April 25 (May 7), 1895- at a meeting of the Physics Department of the RFCS, held in the Physics Auditorium of the University A.S. Popov read a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations.” During the report, with the help of assistant P.N. Rybkina Popov demonstrated wireless transmission equipment in action electrical signals of various durations.

May 7, 1945 The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided: given the most important role of radio in the cultural and political life of the population and for the defense of the country, in order to popularize the achievements of domestic science and technology in the field of radio and encourage amateur radio among the general population, to establish May 7 annual “Radio Day”.

The creation and public demonstration of a radio communication system by Alexander Stepanovich Popov on May 7, 1895 gave impetus to the emergence and development of many completely new scientific directions and creative ideas. The first ten years from 1896 to 1906 Radio engineering in Russia developed under the leadership of A.S. Popov and with his active participation. The invention of radio communications was the significant step thanks to which he, a teacher of physics, higher mathematics and electrical engineering of the Mine Officer Class (MOC) of the Naval Department, became a world-famous scientist. The first serial radio equipment based on the A.S. system. Popov for ships of the Russian and French fleets was produced since 1899 by the French company Ducrete. In 1900 A.S. Popov most actively participated in the creation of the Kronstadt radio workshop, the first enterprise in the domestic radio industry. Since 1904, he actively worked with the companies JSC Russian Electrotechnical Plants Siemens and Halske and the German Society of Wireless Telegraphy Telefunken, which recognized the significance of his ideas and organized at their enterprises a department of “wireless telegraphy according to the system of Professor Popov and the Society of Wireless Telegraphy.” Telefunken."

Radio engineering as a field of knowledge and practical human activity was born at the very end of the 19th century and over more than a hundred years of its development has come a long way - from the first wireless signal transmission system to modern ground-based and space radio systems.

Popov A.S. - short biography

Born on March 16, 1859 (all dates are indicated according to the new style) in the Northern Urals, in the mining village of Turinskie Rudniki, in the family of a priest, rector of the Maximov Church Stepan Petrovich Popov (1827-1897) and his wife Anna Stepanovna (1830-1903), the middle of seven children. The family was very friendly. The elders - brother Raphael (1849-1913) and sisters Ekaterina (1850-1903) and Maria (1852-1871) always helped the younger ones. Alexander, in turn, took care of his younger sisters - Anna (1860-1930), Augusta (1863-1941) and Kapitolina (1870-1942). In addition to the main service of S.P. Popov spent almost his entire life working for free “teaching children literacy and the law of God" V mining school And at home school for girls, which he maintained at his own expense. For his diligent and useful service, he was awarded many commendations, bronze (1857) and gold pectoral crosses (1877) and the Order of St. Vladimir 4th degree (1986). Anna Stepanovna also taught schoolgirls handicrafts for free, for which she received gratitude from the spiritual consistory.

Alexander’s interest in technology was facilitated by the fact that the Popov family’s circle of acquaintances included many engineers, graduates of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute. He visited mines and workshops with interest and tried to make various mechanisms himself. All his life Popov was grateful to the husband of his sister Ekaterina V.P. Slovtsov (1844 - 1934), a priest, like his father, who taught him carpentry, plumbing and turning. Alexander received his primary education at the Dalmatovsky (1869−1871) and Yekaterinburg (1871−1873) theological schools. In 1873 Popov entered the Perm Theological Seminary. In these educational institutions, education for children of the clergy was free, which was of significant importance for the large Popov family. Religious upbringing instilled in Alexander Popov high moral qualities, which were repeatedly noted by people who knew him.

Popov graduated from general education classes at the seminary, which provided knowledge equivalent to a classical gymnasium with the right to enter the university, with honors in 1877.

In September 1877, Alexander Popov entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. He came to St. Petersburg, where Raphael, who graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, lived at that time with his sisters Anna and Augusta. (Anna received a secondary medical education, and Augusta graduated from the Academy of Arts.) Alexander Popov received a scholarship only in the first and third years and solved his financial problems by tutoring.

Among Popov’s teachers and professors during these years were mathematicians P.L. Chebyshev and A.N. Korkin, physicists F.F. Petrushevsky, P.P. Fan der Fleet, I.I. Borgman and O.D. Khvolson, chemists A.M. Butlerov and D.I. Mendeleev. From Borgmann's lectures, Popov learned about the electrodynamic theory of the English physicist D.K. Maxwell, whose fundamental work “Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism” was published in 1873.

In 1880, the VI (Electrical Engineering) Department was created at the Russian Technical Society. At the end of March 1880, the First Electrical Engineering Exhibition opened in Salt Town on the banks of the Fontanka. Student A. Popov was invited to work as an “explainer” at the exhibition, thanks to which he studied everything related to the development and state of electrical engineering of that time. The demonstration of communications equipment (telegraph apparatuses of Schilling and Jacobi, Morse, Siemens and Wheatstone, telephones of Bell, Golubitsky and Ochorowicz) aroused great interest among the public. The exhibition presented almost all types of dynamos and alternators developed by that time. Here Popov met leading electrical engineers D.A. Lachinov, A.N. Lodygin, V.N. Chikolev, P.N. Yablochkov, listened to their public lectures. In May 1880, the first issue of the magazine “Electricity” was published. In the same year, the Electrical Engineer Partnership was organized, which carried out work on electric lighting of streets, gardens and public institutions in St. Petersburg. Popov worked at the Partnership as a fitter. In his 4th year, he helped the physics professor as an assistant. Thus, by the end of his studies at the university, Popov acquired not only very extensive fundamental theoretical knowledge, but also acquired thorough practical experience.

In November 1882 A.S. Popov graduated from the university and, after defending his dissertation on the topic “On the principles of dynamoelectric direct current machines” (January 1883), received a candidate’s diploma. His first scientific article based on the dissertation materials was published in the September issue of the magazine “Electricity” for 1883. By decision of the academic council, A. Popov was left at the university to prepare for a professorship.

St. Petersburg Scientific and Physical School, led by prof. F.F. Petrushevsky, instilled in students a desire for practical application of the achievements of world science and the results of their own research. Popov always strived for serious scientific work, for which the necessary conditions were the presence of an appropriate laboratory base and his own stable financial situation.

In the summer of 1883, he accepted an invitation to take the place of teacher and head of the physics room in the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt, which had a well-equipped physics room and a good library. Popov started his work as a freelancer with a salary of about 100 rubles. per month, led practical classes on galvanism, and lectured on higher mathematics. Working with naval officers, Alexander Stepanovich realized that in the context of the rapid development of the fleet, solving the problem of information exchange was becoming more and more urgent.

November 18, 1883 in the Church of Cosmas and Damian of the Life Guards Engineer Battalion A.S. Popov married Raisa Alekseevna Bogdanova (1860-1932), the daughter of a sworn attorney. He met her while preparing her for admission to the Higher Women's Medical Courses at the Nikolaev Military Hospital. Upon completion of the course (second graduation in 1886), she became one of the first certified female doctors in Russia and spent her entire life practicing medicine.

In July-August 1887 A.S. Popov participated in the RFHO expedition in Krasnoyarsk to observe a total solar eclipse. He developed a method for photometric research, designed and manufactured a photometer for photographing the solar corona.

By tradition, teachers of Officer classes gave public lectures on the latest achievements of science at the Naval Officers' Assembly. Lectures by A.S. Popov's lectures were distinguished by their relevant content and excellent demonstration of physical experiments, which made an unforgettable impression on the audience.

Thanks to the high erudition in solving technical issues A.S. Popov soon became one of the leading specialists of the Maritime Department, a member of the Marine Technical Committee and was regularly involved in solving complex practical issues.

From 1889 to 1898, during the summer months, free from classes at the IOC, A.S. Popov was in charge of the power plant that served the Nizhny Novgorod fair. For the season he received 2,500 rubles - twice the annual salary of an IOC teacher. Since his arrival, the station's work has improved markedly. The experience of working at the Nizhny Novgorod power plant gave Popov material for compiling a textbook on electrical machines, published in 1897 by the Maritime Department.

At the opening of the XVI artistic and industrial exhibition (1896), held in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, all those present were greatly impressed by the festive illumination. A.S. Popov was a member of the jury of the electrical engineering department of this exhibition, for which he was awarded the gratitude of the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte. In addition, he himself was a participant in the exhibition - his lightning detector was awarded a diploma.

In December 1890, Popov began combining work at the IOC with the work of a full-time teacher of physics and electrical engineering at the Technical School of the Maritime Department, located not far from the IOC. The position gave the right to promotion and a pension based on length of service. When enlisting in the school, he signed Oath commitment in other words, he took the oath “to serve faithfully and unhypocritically and to firmly guard every entrusted secret.”

Start of work by A.S. Popov's work in the field of wireless communications dates back to 1889. In 1887, two articles by the German physicist G. Hertz were published on the results of his experimental work, which confirmed the validity of Maxwell's theory. In 1890 A.S. Popov gave a series of lectures on the propagation of electromagnetic waves with a demonstration of Hertz’s experiments, united under the general title “The latest research on the relationship between light and electrical phenomena.”

The demonstration of the experiments was so vivid and convincing that the command instructed him to give a lecture in St. Petersburg at the Admiralty for a wider range of listeners - naval officers. According to the recollections of his contemporaries, Popov already at that time spoke about the use of “Hertz rays” or “rays electric force» for signaling at a distance without wires.

From May 2 to July 4, 1893, Alexander Stepanovich was in Chicago, where he was sent to the World Exhibition dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.

Along the way he stopped in Berlin, London and Paris. Joined the French Physical Society. In America, in addition to the exhibition and Chicago enterprises, he visited New York and San Francisco and inspected the construction of a powerful power plant at Niagara Falls. At the exhibition, he personally saw the achievements of the American inventor of Serbian origin N. Tesla, whose experiments with a high-frequency transformer he brilliantly repeated in his lectures. Upon his return, Popov gave presentations: in Kronstadt - on the electrical department of the World Exhibition and in St. Petersburg - on the “teleautograph” of I. Gray.

But the greatest interest for Popov at this time is the task of creating a wireless signal transmission system for the fleet. The source of high-frequency damped electromagnetic oscillations - the transmitter - in Popov's experiments was his modernized Hertz vibrator with a spark gap fed from a Ruhmkorff coil (high-frequency transformer). Special device- chopper - provided a sequence of current pulses to the coil with a frequency necessary to generate a series of high-frequency damped oscillations. Many scientists in the world, including A.S., worked on the problem of creating a device capable of detecting the presence of high-frequency electromagnetic radiation. Popov.

In 1890, the French scientist Branly created a “radio conductor” - a device that was a tube with metal filings, the resistance of which changed under the influence of high-frequency vibrations. The disadvantage of this device was the loss of sensitivity after a single irradiation.

The English physicist O. Lodge improved Branly's device (1894) by connecting to it a mechanical device for periodically shaking sawdust, calling it a coherer (from the word “cohesion” - adhesion).

However, these shaking were carried out without any connection with the sending of electromagnetic radiation, so this solution did not provide the possibility of reliable reception of a sequence of signals transmitted using electromagnetic waves.

Popov invented a new scheme for automatically restoring the sensitivity of the coherer. A relay was included in the circuit with the coherer, which provided the connection of an actuator - an electric bell, the hammer of which struck the tube, shaking the sawdust and restoring the resistance of the coherer after receiving each parcel of damped electromagnetic oscillations. Depending on the closure of the telegraph switch key, the sending could be short or long. The problem of providing wireless communication was fundamentally solved.

In the spring of 1895 A.S. Popov and his assistant P.N. Rybkin (1868-1948) conducted experiments on transmitting and receiving signals at a distance of 30 fathoms (64 meters) in the IOC garden. A wire raised by balloons to a height of 2.5 meters was used as the receiver antenna.

On May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Physics Department of the Russian Federal Chemical Society, Popov made a report “On the relation of metal powders to electrical vibrations”, in which he outlined the results of his research and demonstrated the ability of the device he invented to accept the sequence "short and long signals" that is, essentially, transmitting elements of Morse code.

In fact, the system created and tested in action by A.S. Popov, contained all the essential elements and their connections that are inherent in the modern concept of “radio signal transmission line.”

Information about the report was published in the Kronstadt Bulletin newspaper on May 12, 1895, indicating the final goal of the work:

“Dear teacher A.S. Popov... combined a special portable device that responds to electrical vibrations with an ordinary electric bell and is sensitive to Hertzian waves in the open air at distances of up to 30 fathoms... About these experiments A.S. Popov reported last Tuesday at the Physics Department of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, which was met with great interest and sympathy. The reason for all these experiments is the theoretical possibility of signaling at a distance without conductors, like an optical telegraph, but using electric rays.”

The device of the receiver with details sufficient for its reproduction is set out in the minutes of the meeting of the RFKhO, published in the August issue of the “Journal of the RFKhO” (1895, vol. 27, issue 8, pp. 259−260).

During the first tests of the receiver, its susceptibility to atmospheric discharges was noticed. A.S. Popov designed a special device, later called a lightning detector, for round-the-clock reception of electromagnetic oscillations of natural origin with automatic recording of them on a paper tape of a recorder. Since July 1895, the lightning detector was used practically: for meteorological observations at the Forestry Institute and for studying atmospheric interference with radio reception at the IOC laboratory.

Thus, in the spring of 1895 A.S. Popov implemented almost simultaneously two types of radio communication, which are still successfully developing: from person to person and from natural object to person.

A full description of the world's first radio communication system was published in the January issue of the RFHO Journal under the title “Device for detecting and recording electrical oscillations” (1896, vol. 28, Issue 1. pp. 1-14).

In the winter of 1895−1896. Popov was engaged in improving radio equipment. In January, he spoke at a meeting of the Kronstadt branch of the IRTS, demonstrating the operation of a portable receiver with a symmetrical antenna similar to the transmitter antenna (in his words, “to achieve resonance”). It became clear to representatives of the Maritime Department who listened to the report that a fundamentally new means of communication had been invented. The dissemination of information about this was undesirable. Popov used equipment with directional reflector antennas during his report on March 24, 1896 at the next meeting of the Russian Federal Chemical Society. At that time, between the buildings of St. Petersburg University at a distance of 250 meters, Morse code and words were transmitted Heinrich Hertz. However, only one phrase about Popov’s demonstration was recorded in the minutes of the meeting "devices described earlier". On April 14, ETI physics teacher V.V. Skobeltsyn showed Popov’s equipment in action already within the walls of ETI. Nowadays this equipment is exhibited in the Memorial Museum of A.S. Popov at the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI" named after. IN AND. Ulyanov (Lenin) (SPbSETU).

As a physicist A.S. Popov was interested in scientific discoveries in all areas of the application of electricity. His work in the field of newly discovered x-rays dates back to the beginning of 1896. Already in February, he manufactured one of the first X-ray machines in Russia, and obtained images of various objects, including an image of a person’s hand. With his support, an X-ray room was equipped at the Kronstadt naval hospital in 1897, and subsequently some warships were equipped with X-ray machines. It is known that after the battle in the Tsushima Strait, the cruiser Aurora, which had such an installation, provided assistance to 40 wounded sailors.

In the second half of 1896, reports appeared in the Western and then in the Russian press about the demonstration in London of experiments in wireless telegraphy by the Italian inventor G. Marconi. The design of the devices he designed was kept secret.

This information, of course, forced Popov to work more intensively on the development of wireless telegraphy equipment. During the 1896−1897 academic year A.S. Popov was preparing experiments in telegraphy without wires. In January 1897, he published an article “Telegraphing without wires” in the Kotlin newspaper, and in March 1897 he gave a lecture “On the Possibility of Telegraphing Without Wires” at the Kronstadt Maritime Assembly. The lecture was held in front of a large crowd: "admirals, generals and officers of all branches of arms, ladies, private individuals and students"(Kotlin newspaper, April 13, 1897) Already in the spring of 1897, experiments began on wireless signaling in Kronstadt harbor, where a range of 300 fathoms (about 600 m) was achieved. During the summer campaign of 1897, a number of studies were carried out. Between the ships of the Mine Training Detachment in the Gulf of Finland, a communication range was obtained at distances of up to 5 kilometers. During the tests, a reflection of radio waves was discovered by a foreign metal body (the cruiser "Lieutenant Ilyin"), which fell in a direct line between the ships on which the transmitter (the transport "Europe") and the receiver (the cruiser "Africa") were installed. This is a property of radio waves studied by A.S. Popov back in 1890 in the laboratory, the scientist proposed using it to determine the direction to a working transmitter for radio beacons and direction finders, to solve navigation problems.

On June 4, 1897 in London, V. Preece, chief engineer of the UK telegraphs, made a report in which he first revealed technical device equipment by G. Marconi. The activities of G. Marconi have always had a pronounced commercial orientation. He submitted a preliminary brief application for an invention entitled “Improvements in the transmission of electrical impulses and signals and in equipment for this” on June 2, 1896. Since his arrival in England, he has received very serious engineering support from specialists of the British Postal and Telegraph Department. Under British patent law at the time, which did not require examination for world novelty, Marconi received a patent valid only in the UK. His company was founded that same year. In Russia, France and Germany he was denied patenting with reference to the publications of A.S. Popova.

A.S. Popov did not ignore Preece's speech and the publication of Marconi's patent. In his articles in the Russian and English (Electrician magazine) press, he indicated that the Marconi receiver does not have significant differences from his receiver and lightning detector, the device of which was published 1.5 years earlier. At the same time, Popov paid tribute to the work of Marconi, who « the first had the courage to take a practical approach and achieved great distances in his experiments.” Indeed, Marconi’s energetic activity had an accelerating effect on the development of radio technology.

In the fall of 1897, Popov gave reports on wireless telegraphy with a demonstration of the radio communication system to various audiences: at the Kronstadt Naval Assembly (March), at the 4th Consultative Congress of Railway Electrical Engineers in Odessa (September), in St. Petersburg - at the IRTS (September), at the Electrotechnical Institute (October), at St. Petersburg University (December).

At the same time, the French engineer and owner of the physical instrument workshop E. Ducretet (1844−1915), using the published works of A.S. Popov, created the first wireless telegraphy equipment in France and demonstrated it at a meeting of the French Physical Society. A business cooperation was established between Popov and Ducretet, which made it possible to begin serial production of radio stations in 1898. In 1898-1905 Ducretet constantly used written consultations from A.S. Popova. In May 1899, during a foreign business trip, Popov visited the Ducrete company. The Russian Maritime Department has given an order for the supply of 50 ship radio stations within five years.

In the summer of 1899, Popov was sent by the Maritime Department to England, France, Germany and Switzerland to familiarize himself with the organization of electrical engineering education and the production of wireless telegraphy equipment. Testing a set of equipment manufactured in the workshop of E.V. Kolbasyev, in accordance with Popov’s methodological instructions, P.N. Rybkin and the head of the Kronstadt telegraph, Captain D.S. Troitsky (1857-1920). They discovered the high sensitivity of the equipment when receiving signals through headphones. A.S. was summoned by telegram from Zurich. Popov, who investigated the discovered “detector effect” of the coherer.

As a result of a thorough study of this effect, he developed an improved coherer (crystal diode) based on contact between metals (steel needles) oxidized to varying degrees and electrodes (platinum or carbon) and a telephone detector receiver circuit. The high sensitivity of the new receiver made it possible to triple the communication range. Popov opened a new era in radio communications - listening. A.S. Popov received patents for a “telephone dispatch receiver” in Russia (No. 6066 dated July 14, 1899, issued December 13, 1901). UK Patent A.S. Popov for an improved detector for telephone reception No. 2797 was declared on February 12, 1900, issued on February 22, 1900. With the active participation of E. Ducretet, patents were obtained in France (No. 296354 dated January 22, 1900 and with an addition to this patent received October 26, 1900), in the USA (No. 722,139 of March 3, 1903). in Switzerland - patent of A.S. Popov for “Receiver for telegraphy without wires” No. 21905 (issued April 9, 1900). In the USA, patent A.S. Popov for “Self-decoghering coherer system” No. 722139, declared on March 8, 1900, was issued on March 8, 1903; Spanish patent No. 25816 was issued on April 11, 1900.

In August 1899, Popov conducted experiments on radio communication with a balloon in the Aeronautical Park near St. Petersburg.

In August-September 1899, Popov and Rybkin participated in testing radio stations manufactured by Ducrete on ships of the Black Sea squadron.

At the end of 1899, the Marine Technical Committee proposed using radio communications to organize work to rescue the coastal defense battleship Admiral General Apraksin, which had landed on the rocks near the island. Gogland in the Gulf of Finland as a result of a navigation error. And at the beginning of 1900 A.S. Popov and P.N. Rybkin participated in the construction and commissioning of the first practical radio communication line between the island. Gogland and the Finnish city of Kotka, which had a telegraph wire connection with St. Petersburg. The icebreaker "Ermak" supported the operation. One radio station was built on the island. Gogland, it was turned around by P.N. Rybkin. The other was installed under the leadership of A.S. Popov on the small island of Kutsalo near Kotka. Both stations were built in difficult conditions with severe frosts and snowstorms.

On February 5, 1900, radio communication was established. The very first radiogram sent by A.S. Popov from Kotka and accepted by P.N. Rybkin on Gogland, contained an order to the commander of the icebreaker Ermak to go out to the open sea to help the fishermen carried away on the ice floe. By the evening of February 6, the Ermak returned with 27 fishermen on board. Thus, the invention of A.S. Popov, even at its first practical use, it served a humane purpose - the rescue of people in trouble.

In connection with the successful use of radio communications in the name of A.S. Popov received congratulatory telegrams. Admiral S.O. Makarov telegraphed: “ On behalf of all Kronstadt sailors, I cordially greet you with the brilliant success of your invention. The opening of wireless communication from Kotka to Gogland at a distance of 45 miles is a major scientific victory.” Replying to Admiral Makarov, Popov writes: “Thanks to Ermak and the wireless telegraph, several human lives were saved. This is the best reward for all my work, and the impressions of these days will probably never be forgotten.”

The radio link continued to operate for 84 days until the end rescue work. During these days, 440 radiograms (over 10,000 words) were transmitted. In April 1900, the battleship was safely removed from the rocks and went under its own power for repairs.

An important consequence of the successful operation of the radio line was the decision to adopt wireless telegraphy equipment into service with the Navy. A.S. Popov was appointed responsible for overseeing the process of equipping ships with radio communication equipment. The need for training specialists in wireless telegraphy became obvious.

« By the highest permission"Popov was given a large monetary reward for those times - 33 thousand rubles" for work on the introduction of radio communications on naval ships». This amount was determined taking into account Popov’s termination of the contract with the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

In 1900, in Kronstadt, with the direct participation of Popov, a workshop for the manufacture and repair of radio equipment was opened - the first enterprise in the domestic radio industry.

In the summer of 1900, the World Industrial Exhibition took place in Paris, at which the A.S. lightning detector was demonstrated in action. Popov, made in the Kronstadt workshop of E.V. Kolbasyev, and a ship's radio station produced by the Parisian company Ducrete under the brand name "Popov-Ducretet-Tissot". Popov, as a participant in the exhibition, was awarded a personal gold medal and a diploma. Alexander Stepanovich could not attend the IV International Electrical Congress, which was held there on August 18–25, 1900. The report he prepared on the “telephone dispatch receiver” was read by ETI professor M.A. Chatelain and aroused great interest among the congress delegates.

In the winter of 1900−1901 A.S. Popov is seeking to expand the Kronstadt workshop for the repair and manufacture of radio equipment, and for the period 1901−1904. 54 ship radios were manufactured here. In the fall of 1901, Popov and Rybkin were engaged in work on the construction of the first Russian commercial radio communication line in Rostov-on-Don, which ensured shipping in the Don arms.

During the years of intensive scientific and teaching activity A.S. Popov developed a number of original courses in physics and electrical engineering, some of which have come to us in the form of lithographed publications. Alexander Stepanovich organized courses for the training of radiotelegraph operators and developed lecture and practical training programs for them. In May 1900, teaching radiotelegraphy began at the IOC.

18 years of teaching activity in the Mine Officer Class - the elite higher school of the Naval Department - formed A.S. Popov as an experienced teacher and as an outstanding electrical engineer with international recognition.

In March 1901 A.S. Popov received an invitation from ETI director N.N. Kachalov to take the position of ordinary professor of physics. He agreed, but with the condition of maintaining service in the Maritime Department to carry out work “on the organization of wireless telegraphy on ships of the Russian fleet, which task I consider it my moral duty to complete.” In September, classes began at ETI, still in the old building - on Novo-Isaakievskaya Street, in house No. 18. One of Professor Popov’s first documents in ETI was a note “General directions of the physics course and immediate tasks of scientific work in the physics laboratory of the Electrotechnical Institute.” It contained not only the basic provisions for the training of electrical engineers in physics, but also a research program that determined the range of problems under study for many years. The main objective of the physics course, defined by Popov in this document: “to provide the fundamentals of the doctrine of electricity in such a way that those deep views on the nature of electrical phenomena that were created thanks to the works of M. Faraday and D.K. Maxwell, Hertz's experiments did not seem inaccessible to ordinary mortals, but, on the contrary, were guiding principles in the study of electrical engineering. ... This new area of ​​electrical phenomena, which has given such amazing practical results in telegraphy without wires, at the same time provides so many new facts and expands the horizon so quickly that it is difficult to even foresee the limits of its influence on the doctrine of electricity. Therefore, the study of this new type of electrical energy should occupy one of the main places in the course of physics... A whole series of discovered but not yet explained phenomena in this area of ​​the study of electricity provides abundant material for more complex work for many years..."

To solve the assigned problems A.S. Popov developed a number of courses in physics, conducted 42 laboratory works: in the general course of physics (23), in electricity and magnetism (19) - created a scientific laboratory.

At the beginning of 1902 A.S. Popov participated in the work of the II All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress in Moscow in the building of the Polytechnic Museum, where he was elected as an honorary participant.

Back in 1900, in Paris, Popov became acquainted with the works of Pierre and Marie Curie. At the Physics Congress they made a report on the results of their research. In 1902, Alexander Stepanovich developed an original method and created a device for measuring “ voltage of the electric field of the atmosphere using the ionization effect of salts for the sake of I".

The possibilities for conducting scientific research expanded with the move of ETI to new buildings on Aptekarsky Island: an academic building, equipped taking into account advances in the field of electrical engineering, and a residential building, in one of the apartments of which Professor Popov’s family settled.

The list of research works carried out at this time indicates the breadth of scientific interests of A.S. Popova. At the meeting of the 3rd All-Russian Electrotechnical Congress held on January 4, 1904 in the ETI building, Popov and his graduate student S.Ya. Lifshits reported on the development of radio equipment for transmitting the sounds of human speech using damped electromagnetic oscillations. Communication range was provided at a distance of up to 2 km. Together with graduate student D.A. Rozhansky carried out studies of damped electrical oscillations using Brown's oscilloscope tube (1904−1905). An optical device was invented for detecting floating mines and a system for telemechanical control of fire ships (1903-1904). Popov paid the most serious attention to the development of instruments and methods for measuring the wavelengths of radio transmitters (1905). In the period 1900-1905. he conducted experiments on using the phenomenon of resonance to increase the sensitivity of receiving devices and improve their selectivity. During these years, the scientific and pedagogical school of A.S. was formed. Popova, represented by such names as A.A. Petrovsky, P.S. Osadchiy, D.A. Rozhansky, N.A. Skritsky, S.I. Pokrovsky.

While remaining a member of the Marine Technical Committee, Alexander Stepanovich continued to oversee issues of arming the fleet with wireless telegraphy equipment. He participated, as a representative of the Russian Maritime Department, in Berlin Conference on the international regulation of radio communications (1903). Opening this conference, the German Minister of Posts and Telegraphs R. Kretke emphasized: “ We owe the appearance of the first radiographic apparatus to Popov.”

In May 1904, the joint-stock company of Russian electrical plants "Siemens and Halske" announced that the company had formed “a special department for the construction of a wireless telegraph according to the system of Professor Popov and the Wireless Telegraphy Society”Telefunken" in Berlin. A real unification of a globally significant invention made in Russia by Professor A.S. Popov, his experience in using wireless telegraphs in practice with the inventions and extensive practice of the Wireless Telegraphy Society makes it possible to use devices in Russia that meet the latest requirements in all respects.”

Among the founders of the German radio engineering company Telefunken were famous German scientists F. Braun, W. Siemens, A. Slaby and G. Arco. According to the terms of the agreement concluded for five years (counting from January 1, 1904), working capital was provided to the department by both companies, and profits were divided equally between three counterparties - both companies and A.S. Popov. As we can see, German and Russian investors highly valued the intellectual property of the Russian scientist.

In connection with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War and the preparation of the Second Pacific Squadron for a campaign in the Far East, Popov gave special lectures on wireless telegraphy for mine officers. But the preparation was clearly insufficient; radio communications were practically not used. Popov deeply felt the defeat of Russia in this war.

In 1905, Alexander Stepanovich gave a series of lectures on wireless telegraphy at the Military Artillery Academy in St. Petersburg. In the same year, he gave public lectures to public teachers in Pavlovsk in April-May 1905, and conducted classes with engineers who were graduates of ETI. The training was conducted at radio stations built in Sestroretsk, Oranienbaum and St. Petersburg (on Krestovsky Island). Part of the equipment of the training telegraph station has been preserved and is on display in the A.S. Memorial Museum. Popov at St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI".

In the fall of 1905, a revolutionary wave swept across the country, and higher schools received autonomy, including the right to choose a director. The ETI board elected Popov as its director. On October 15, 1905, under his chairmanship, a meeting of the Council was held with the participation of the entire teaching staff of the institute, which supported the student demands for democratic freedoms. The minutes of the meeting were first signed by the Chairman of the Council A.S. Popov.

On October 20, a red flag appeared in the window of the institute’s student dormitory with the words: “Long live the democratic republic.” A number of calls to the Ministry of Internal Affairs followed. After one of these conversations, at the 47th year of his life, on January 13, 1906, Alexander Stepanovich Popov died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. On the last journey "brilliant electrical engineer of Russia" saw off at the Volkovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg.

According to the current Charter of the RFHO in the new year of 1906, A.S. Popov would have to take the place of chairman of its Physics Department and the highest public scientific post of president of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society.

In 1906, a prize named after the inventor of radio A.S. was established. Popov for the best scientific work in the field of electrical engineering, its laureates until 1917 were: V.F. Mitkevich (1906), D.A. Rozhansky (1911) and V.I. Kovalenkov (1916).

In ETI in 1916, by decision of the ETI Council, the training of engineers in the specialty of radiotelegraph stations began, and in 1917 the first department of radio engineering in Russia was organized (N.A. Skritsky, I.G. Freiman).

Throughout his active creative life, the scientist was accompanied by the definition of “first.” This is the first coherer radiotelegraph receiver and the first spark radiotelegraph system (April 1895); the first device for recording electromagnetic radiation of atmospheric origin - a lightning detector (July 1895); the first detector radio receiving telegraph signals by ear (September 1899); first crystalline point diode (June 1900); first radiotelephone system (December 1903).

In 1945, by government decree, the birthday of radio communications, May 7, was declared an annual public holiday - Radio Day. The Gold Medal named after A.S. was established. Popov of the Russian Academy of Sciences (formerly the USSR Academy of Sciences) “For outstanding services in the field of radio. A.S. Popov”, the badge “Honorary Radio Operator” was introduced, personal scholarships were established for undergraduate and graduate students in the field of radio engineering and telecommunications.

The memory of the scientist is worthily immortalized in numerous monuments, markers, and memorial plaques in a number of cities where he lived and worked.

Name A.S. Popov awarded to scientific institutions, educational institutions, industrial enterprises, radio stations, museums, scientific and technical societies, ships; City streets are named after him. In 1945, the Russian Scientific and Technical Society of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Communications (NTORES) named after A.S. was founded. Popova. In the Solar System there is a small planet “Popov” (No. 3074), on the far side of the Moon a crater is named after him. Films have been made about the life and work of the scientist. In 1959, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Popov, a monument was erected to him on Kamennoostrovsky Avenue in St. Petersburg (sculptor - People's Artist of the RSFSR V.Ya. Bogolyubov and architect - People's Artist of the USSR N.V. Baranov). Monuments to A.S. Popov were also opened on the alley of scientists on Sparrow Hills, in Yekaterinburg, Krasnoturinsk, Kotka (Finland); his busts were installed in Kronstadt, in Petrodvorets, on the island of Gogland, in St. Petersburg on the Literary Bridge of the Volkovsky Cemetery.

The main stages of the life and work of A.S. Popov's works are adequately presented in Russian museums. The first exhibition created by A.S. Popov instruments was opened on April 24, 1906 within the walls of the IOC, where the Memorial Museum-Office of A.S. is now located. Popova. It was here that radio communication equipment was invented. The exhibition features instruments made by the scientist himself to demonstrate physical experiments, instruments from the IOC physics room, and radio communication equipment.

In the Central Museum of Communications named after A.S. Popov (CMS) in St. Petersburg, collection of instruments by A.S. Popova began to form in 1926-1927. Currently, a significant part of A.S.’s hardware heritage is concentrated here. Popov, the first copies of a radio receiver and a lightning detector, as well as instruments related to the stage of the invention of the wireless telegraph, a special hall dedicated to the inventor of radio was decorated. The museum archive has allocated a special documentary fund of A.S. Popova.

Memorial Museum of A.S. Popov "LETI" was opened on June 27, 1948. It combines the memorial museum-laboratory of the physics professor in the academic building of the university and a memorial apartment in the ETI residential building. The museum contains collections of original documents and photographs taken by Popov himself, an excellent photographer, personal belongings of family members, and the original furnishings of the apartment. The museum-laboratory displays the institute's preserved physical devices, with whom A.S. worked. Popov, laboratory equipment, experimental wireless telegraph equipment produced by the Kronstadt workshops and equipment for serial ship radio stations produced by E. Ducrete. The museum archive contains documents confirming the priority of the Russian scientist in the invention of radio.

The Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Signal Corps houses one of the first prototypes of the A.S. coherer receiver. Popov, with the use of which experiments were carried out in Kronstadt.

Museums are also open in the Urals, the birthplace of A.S. Popov, in Krasnoturinsk. The memorial museum was opened in the house where the Popov-Slovtsov family lived (1959, modern exhibition on March 16, 1984), in Yekaterinburg. Museum of Communications named after A.S. Since January 31, 1986, Popova has been housed in the house where, while studying at theological school, Sasha Popov lived with his older sister Maria.

“The scientific feat of Alexander Stepanovich Popov is immortal, the legacy he left to humanity is inexhaustible”- this is how he assessed the activities of A.S. Popov, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, laureate of the Gold Medal named after A.S. Popova S.A. Vekshinsky. Years will pass, these words will not lose their deep meaning, the name A.S. Popova will forever remain among the outstanding representatives of domestic and world science. Foresights A.S. Popov were completely justified. The 21st century has become the century of telecommunications and information.

By decision of UNESCO, the entire world community in 1995 solemnly celebrated the 100th anniversary of radio.

On the occasion of the 110th anniversary of the invention of radio A.S. Popov and the International Scientific Conference held in St. Petersburg "Radio−connection of times"(May 2005) , a bronze commemorative plaque was unveiled to commemorate the first public demonstration of a radio communication system on May 7, 1895. The decision to designate May 7, 1895 as a “Milestone in the History of Electrical Engineering” was made as part of the program on the history of electrical engineering “ Milestones" of the History Center of the International Organization of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The plaque was installed near the entrance to the memorial laboratory of the A.S. Memorial Museum. Popov SPbSETU "LETI", where the inventor of the radio worked since 1903.

Pedagogical activity of A.S. Popov, a graduate of St. Petersburg University, left a bright mark in the process of establishing the domestic electrical and radio engineering school for training both military and civilian specialists. In 1901, he headed the department of physics at the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III (ETI). In September 1905, after the Tsar’s decree on the autonomy of universities came into force, the ETI Council elected A.S. Popov director of the institute.

Merits of A.S. Popov were noted by both the state and scientific and public organizations. Alexander Stepanovich had the high rank of state councilor (since 1901), was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd and 2nd degrees (1895, 1902), St. Stanislav, 2nd degree (1897), and a silver medal in memory of the reign Alexander III on the ribbon of the Order of Alexander Nevsky (1896), received a prize from the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTO) “for a receiver for electrical oscillations and devices for telegraphing at a distance without wires” (1898). He was also awarded the title of Honorary Electrical Engineer (1899) and received “by the Highest permission” a reward in the amount of 33 thousand rubles “for his work on the use of telegraphy without wires on naval vessels” (1900). The jury of the World Exhibition in Paris, dedicated to the turn of the century, awarded him a large gold medal and a diploma for the radio equipment of his system, which was demonstrated in action.

In 1902 A.S. Popov was elected an honorary member of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTO), and in 1905 - chairman of the Physics Department and president of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society (RFCS), positions that he was to occupy from January 1, 1906.

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Born on March 16 (March 4), 1859 in the Turinsky mines of the Verkhoturye district of the Perm province (now Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk region) in the family of a priest. In the family, besides Alexander, there were six more children. Alexander Popov was sent to study first at an elementary theological school, and then in 1873 at a theological seminary, where children of the clergy were taught for free. At the seminary, he studied mathematics and physics with great enthusiasm and interest, although few hours were allocated to these subjects in the seminary program. After graduating from general education classes at the Perm Theological Seminary in 1877, Popov successfully passed the entrance exams to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University.

Soon Alexander Popov attracted the attention of teachers. In his fourth year, he began to act as an assistant at lectures in physics - a rare case in the educational practice of the university. He also participated in the work of student scientific circles, trying to expand and expand knowledge of mathematical physics and electromagnetism.

In 1881, Popov began working in the Electrical Engineering society and participated in the installation of electric arc lighting (mainly differential lamps by Vladimir Chikolev) on Nevsky Prospekt, in gardens and public institutions, at train stations and factories, installed power plants, worked as an assembler at one of the first power plants in St. Petersburg, installed on a barge near the bridge over the Moika on Nevsky Prospekt.

After graduating from St. Petersburg University in 1882, Alexander Popov defended his dissertation. His dissertation “On the principles of magneto- and dynamoelectric direct current machines” was highly appreciated, and the Council of St. Petersburg University awarded him a candidate’s degree on November 29, 1882. Popov was left at the university to prepare for a professorship.

However, the working conditions at the university did not satisfy Alexander Popov, and in 1883 he accepted an offer to take the position of assistant in the Mine Officer Class in Kronstadt, the only educational institution in Russia in which electrical engineering occupied a prominent place and work was carried out on the practical use of electricity (in maritime affairs ). The well-equipped laboratories of the Mine School provided favorable conditions for scientific work. The scientist lived in Kronstadt for 18 years; all the major inventions and work on equipping the Russian fleet with radio communications are associated with this period of his life. From 1890 to 1900, Popov also taught at the Marine Engineering School in Kronstadt. From 1889 to 1899, in the summer, Alexander Popov was in charge of the electrical station at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

The activities of Alexander Popov, which preceded the discovery of radio, included research in the field of electrical engineering, magnetism and electromagnetic waves. Works in this area led the scientist to the conclusion that electromagnetic waves can be used for wireless communication. He expressed this idea in public reports and speeches back in 1889. On May 7, 1895, at a meeting of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society, Alexander Popov made a report and demonstrated the world’s first radio receiver that he had created. Popov ended his message with the following words: “In conclusion, I can express the hope that my device, with further improvement, can be used to transmit signals over a distance using fast electrical oscillations, as soon as a source of such oscillations with sufficient energy is found.” This day went down in the history of world science and technology as the birthday of radio. Ten months later, on March 24, 1896, Popov, at a meeting of the same Russian Physicochemical Society, transmitted the world's first radiogram over a distance of 250 meters. In the summer of next year, the wireless communication range was increased to five kilometers.

In 1899, Popov designed a receiver for receiving signals by ear using a telephone receiver. This made it possible to simplify the reception circuit and increase the radio communication range.

In 1900, the scientist made communications in the Baltic Sea at a distance of over 45 kilometers between the islands of Gogland and Kutsalo, near the city of Kotka. This world's first practical wireless communication line served the rescue expedition to remove the battleship Admiral General Apraksin, which had landed on the rocks off the southern coast of Gogland.

The successful use of this line was the impetus for “the introduction of wireless telegraphy on combat ships as the main means of communication,” as stated the corresponding order from the Ministry of the Navy. Work on the introduction of radio communications in the Russian navy was carried out with the participation of the inventor of radio himself and his colleague and assistant Pyotr Nikolaevich Rybkin.

In 1901, Alexander Popov became a professor at the St. Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute, and in October 1905, its first elected director. The worries associated with fulfilling the responsible duties of the director undermined Popov’s health, and he died suddenly on January 13, 1906 from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Two days before his death, Alexander Popov was elected chairman of the physics department of the Russian Physical and Chemical Society.

Alexander Stepanovich Popov not only invented the world's first radio receiver and carried out the world's first radio transmission, but also formulated the most important principles of radio communication. He developed the idea of ​​enhancing weak signals using relays, invented receiving antenna and grounding; created the first marching army and civilian radio stations and successfully carried out work that proved the possibility of using radio in the ground forces and in aeronautics.

The works of Alexander Popov were highly appreciated both in Russia and abroad: Popov’s receiver was awarded the Grand Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in 1900 in Paris. Special recognition of Popov’s merits was the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, adopted in 1945, which established Radio Day (May 7) and established a gold medal named after. A.S. Popov, awarded by the USSR Academy of Sciences for outstanding works and inventions in the field of radio (since 1995 awarded to the Russian Academy of Sciences).

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Alexander Stepanovich Popov was born on March 16, 1859 in the village of Turinskie Rudniki, Yekaterinburg Region. Sasha’s childhood was extremely prosperous. He lived in a large and friendly family. His father, Stepan Petrovich, was a priest; subsequently he opened a “home school” for everyone. Sasha's mother, Anna Stepanovna, helped her husband at school. Like all children, Sasha Popov loved to go to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries, fish, or even just play pranks. But from childhood he had a penchant for technology. When the boy was nine years old, his older sister's husband taught him carpentry and plumbing. Thanks to the acquired skill, he built a dam on the stream, used in mining. Seeing all this, the father of the future radio inventor decided to develop his son in this direction further. Alexander was sent to study in the city of Dolmatov, where his older brother also studied. Sasha was not very inclined to study, and sometimes, instead of studying the catechism (statement of dogmas), he spent time at the skating rink. The Popov brothers spent long winter evenings together, discussing the history of the Dolmatovsky monastery. Soon Alexander passed his exams and returned home for the summer. But he returned not the same as before. He doesn't go picking mushrooms or build kites. But he can often be seen with the husband of his older sister Ekaterina, V.P. Solovtsov. Either they are repairing a fence together, or repairing a roof, or making some item for the household. One day Sasha saw an electric bell and a galvanic battery for the first time. The future electrical engineer did not rest until he made himself exactly the same ones. They used scraps of old wire and metal, which were abundant in the workshops at the mines. There were old walkers hanging on the wall in one of the rooms of my father’s house. Alexander added a call to them. The result was an electric alarm clock. In 1870, eleven-year-old Sasha went to continue his studies at a theological school in Yekaterinburg, where he lived with his sister Maria Stepanovna. The future inventor is increasingly convinced of his inclination towards technology. After graduating from theological school, Alexander moved to Perm to continue his studies at the Perm Theological Seminary. After graduating from four classes of the seminary, Alexander decides to move to St. Petersburg, where his brother Raphael was already studying, and enter the university. On August 31, 1877, A. S. Popov was enrolled in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at St. Petersburg University. Such famous personalities as D. taught at the university. I. Mendeleev, F. F. Petrushevsky, P. P. Chebyshev and others. The rector of the university was the botanist A.I. Beketov, who strived to improve the lives of students. The first years of study at the university were difficult for Popov. Alexander, not wanting to remain under the guardianship of his brother, who, after graduating from university, worked as a journalist, helped him in publishing. And soon Alexander becomes seriously ill, and the transition exam to the second year turns out to be failed. Then Alexander settles separately from his brother, and decides to earn money by giving private lessons, as many students did then. In 1880, Popov joined the Electrical Engineer partnership. While studying at the university, A. S. Popov acquired a large amount of knowledge and met outstanding scientists of that time. Then he marries Raisa Alekseevna Bogdanova. It was difficult to earn enough to support a family by tutoring, and it took a lot of time. The Electrical Engineer partnership also experienced financial difficulties and eventually ceased to exist in 1883. As they say, “no matter where you throw it, there’s a wedge everywhere.” But then a job in the Mine Officer Class turned up. At first, Popov was a laboratory assistant, and later he, still a young specialist, began teaching himself. The mine officer class was organized in 1870. Mine officers were trained there. The teachers of this class also worked on lighting equipment. A lot of famous scientists worked in the mine class. In 1887, Popov traveled to Krasnoyarsk as part of an expedition to observe the solar eclipse on August 7, 1887. The work went without any difficulties, and after six months the expedition returned. The Popov family was growing. In 1884, Alexander and Raisa had their first child, Stepan, and three years later, their second son, Alexander. As the family grew, so did the expenses. In 1889, A. S. Popov was offered the position of director of a power plant in Nizhny Novgorod (it served a local fair). He agreed. Popov’s work was intense: from October to May he taught in a mine class, in the summer he worked at a power plant. And yet he found time and energy for scientific work. Often a scientist would sit up past midnight in his physics office, where he would conduct experiments. In 1892, A. S. Popov went to Chicago to an exhibition opened in honor of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. Popov travels around America and is endlessly surprised by the culture and society of foreigners. Here we come to the most important part of the life of the radio inventor. Many human activities required communication. This was especially needed by sailors who could not use wired communications. The idea of ​​a wireless telegraph, as they say, has been in the air for decades. The idea of ​​giving up expensive wires was very tempting. Many scientists in the 19th century tried to transmit a signal over a distance. Some have tried to do this, for example, using inductance. Time, however, showed that the right path lay in a completely different direction. But the Russian physicist Alexander Stepanovich Popov achieved success. He assembled a mechanism that caused the signal to activate a decoherer, that is, a device designed to receive electromagnetic signals. With long efforts, Popov tried to increase the reception range. To do this, it was necessary to increase the sensitivity of the receiver. The scientist tried various powders and made iron filings himself. And finally, the optimal version of a multi-metal powder has been achieved. In 1894, Popov parted with his assistant Georgievsky, who left for Moscow to work at one of the Moscow universities. On May 1, 1894, Pyotr Nikolaevich Rybkin was accepted into the Mine Officer Class as a laboratory assistant. He was assigned to assist Popov at lectures and practical classes in physics. Soon Pyotr Nikolaevich saw how a real scientist could be passionate about his work. From early morning until late evening, experience after experience followed. The design of the coherer changed - various materials were tried as electrodes, and the shape of the tube changed. But the main concern was, of course, the powders. On May 7, 1895, A. S. Popov reads a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations” at St. Petersburg University for the Russian Physical and Chemical Society. The scientist began his report from afar. Then he explained the structure of his instruments - the receiver and transmitter on the board. And finally, he demonstrated the operation of the devices in practice: there was a receiver on the main demonstration table, and a transmitter was located near the wall in the audience. When the transmitter was turned on, a bell began to ring in the receiver. After the end of the meeting, many scientists approached Popov, but no one was able to objectively assess the significance of the discovery. On March 24, 1896, the teacher of the Mine Officer Class made a regular report at the Russian Physico-Chemical Society. On this day, those gathered in the hall of the physics room of the capital’s university witnessed the transmission of the first radiogram in the history of electrical engineering. Her text was short and expressive: “Heinrich Hertz.” This is how the Russian physicist paid tribute to his German colleague. Popov spent the summer of 1896, as usual, in Nizhny Novgorod. There were a lot of worries. The city on the Volga hosted the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition. The power plant was working at its limit. There wasn't even time to look through the newspapers. On one intense day of work, Lieutenant Kolbasyev literally burst into the office of the director of the power plant. And the following happened: the lieutenant read a note in the newspaper that in London, a native of Italy, Guglielmo Marcani, had found a way to telegraph without wires. This news, of course, did not make Popov happy, but it made him think about other questions about signal transmission at a distance. It turned out that Marcani studied from the works of those scientists who achieved success in wireless telegraphy, in particular, from the works of A. S. Popov. It should also be noted that in 1897 Popov spent 900 rubles on the development of wireless telegraphy, and Markani - 6,000 rubles. In subsequent years, the difference in funds grew more and more. Popov was friends with Gennady Lyuboslavsky, who at that time worked at the Forestry Institute and was in charge of the meteorological observatory. Here Popov installed his device, called a lightning detector. Using a lightning detector, the scientist intended to study the natural source of signals, that is, lightning discharges. In the summer of 1897, the first radio communications experiments were carried out on the ships of the Mine Detachment. All this summer Popov worked on improving his brainchild. Tests were also carried out. And a Morse writing apparatus was even attached to the receiving station. Popov ordered parts for his stations abroad. Throughout the next summer, Popov also worked on his stations. In the end, the scientist achieved results: the radio communication range was 36 km. On July 14, 1899, the scientist submitted applications to the patent offices of England, France and Russia. Soon the scientist was sent patents, and the production of telephone receivers for electromagnetic waves began. At the end of 1899, the ship Admiral General Apraksin was caught in a snowstorm in the ice near the island of Gogland. For emergency work two ships were sent, but they were unable to move the ship even a centimeter. Communications were necessary for work to save the ship. But it was impossible to lay a cable there. Then they remembered Popov’s invention. In the shortest possible time, under the leadership of Popov, two stations were built in Gogland and Kotik. The distance between them was 47 km. What a joy it was when they began to receive signals from Kotik in Gogland! On the same day, a message was received that saved the lives of 50 fishermen who were carried away on an ice floe. On September 2, 1900, a radio workshop began functioning in Kronstadt. In 1901, it produced 9 radio stations according to Popov’s design, in 1904 - already 21, but the following year - only two pieces (there were no more orders). In 1910 the workshop moved to St. Petersburg. New equipment was purchased for it and labor resources were increased. The last years of Popov's life were associated with the Electrotechnical Institute. Popov received a professorship and became deputy chairman of the physics department of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society. At the same time, Popov further improved his brainchild by adding a circuit that increased the transmission range. But his health was not the same, and there was a lot of work... On December 29, 1905, after returning home from the Minister of Internal Affairs, the scientist felt unwell, but still went to a meeting of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society. The next day Popov felt even worse. A doctor was invited. But when he arrived, it was too late. On December 31, 1905, when all of St. Petersburg was preparing to celebrate the New Year, Alexander Stepanovich Popov passed away. The scientist was buried on January 3, 1906. A. S. Popov made an invaluable contribution to the development of electrical engineering and physics. Now we are surrounded by many things based on the phenomena discovered by Popov. Literature: E. N. Nikitin “Inventor of radio - A. S. Popov” 1995

Radio is one of the most significant achievements of the human mind of the late 19th century. And the beginning of the development of radio technology is inextricably linked with the name of Alexander Stepanovich Popov, who in Russia is considered the inventor of radio. Today marks the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Russian scientist Alexander Popov was born in the village of Turinsky Mines, now the city of Krasnoturinsk, Sverdlovsk Region, in the family of priest Stepan Petrov Popov and his wife Anna Stepanovna.

He studied at Dalmatovsky and then Yekaterinburg theological schools. In 1877 he graduated with honors from general education classes at the Perm Theological Seminary. After that, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of St. Petersburg University. While studying at the university, he was an assistant at lectures on physics, worked as a guide at the First Electrical Engineering Exhibition in St. Petersburg, and in 1881-1883 he worked as a power plant fitter in the Electrical Engineer partnership.

In 1882 he defended his dissertation “On the principles of magneto- and dynamo-electric machines of direct current” and received the academic degree of Candidate of Sciences. The following year, the academic council of the university decided to leave him at the university to prepare for the professorship.

Alexander Stepanovich was also involved in teaching, in particular, he gave lectures and conducted practical classes in Kronstadt in the Mine Officer Class (MOC) of the Naval Department.

In April 1887, Popov was elected a member of the Russian Physico-Chemical Society (RFCS), and in 1893 he joined the Russian Technical Society (RTO).

He traveled a lot - not only in Russia. So, in the same 1893 he was at the World Industrial Exhibition in Chicago (USA). He visited Berlin, London and Paris, where he became acquainted with the activities of scientific institutions.

Starting point

The main milestone in Popov’s activities was his creation of a radio receiver and radio communication system. In 1895, he manufactured a coherent receiver capable of receiving electromagnetic signals of varying durations at a distance without wires. He assembled and tested the world's first practical radio communication system, including a Hertz spark transmitter of his own design and a receiver invented by him. During the experiments, the ability of the receiver to register electromagnetic signals of atmospheric origin was also discovered.

In the same year, Popov spoke at a meeting of the Russian Federal Chemical Society with a report “On the relationship of metal powders to electrical vibrations,” during which he demonstrated the operation of wireless communication equipment. Five days later, the Kronstadt Bulletin newspaper published the first report on Popov’s successful experiments with wireless communication devices.

In 1898, industrial production of Popov ship radios began by E. Ducretet in Paris. Created on the initiative of the scientist, the Kronstadt radio workshop, the first radio engineering enterprise in Russia, began producing equipment for the Navy in 1901. In 1904, the St. Petersburg company Siemens and Halske, the German company Telefunken and Popov jointly organized the “Department of Wireless Telegraphy according to the A. S. Popov System.”

In 1901, Alexander Stepanovich Popov became a professor of physics at the Electrotechnical Institute of Emperor Alexander III. In 1905, by decision of the Academic Council, he became the first elected director of the institute.

In general, it should be noted that Popov’s work as a scientist and inventor was highly appreciated both in Russia and abroad during his lifetime. He was awarded the RTO Prize, the Highest Award "for continuous work on the use of telegraphy without wires on naval vessels", he was awarded the Grand Gold Medal of the World Industrial Exhibition in Paris (1900), the Order of the Russian Empire, was elected an honorary member of the RTO, an honorary engineer - electrician and president of RFHO.

After his death on January 13, 1906, a foundation was created in Russia and a prize was established in his name. In 1945, a holiday was established - Radio Day, celebrated on May 7, the "Honorary Radio Operator" badge and the Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Sciences named after A. S. Popov, personal prizes and scholarships were established. Also named after Popov are a minor planet, a lunar landscape object on the far side of the Moon, the Central Museum of Communications and a street in St. Petersburg, the Research Institute of Radio Reception and Acoustics, and a motor ship. Monuments were erected to him in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoturinsk, Kotka (Finland), Petrodvorets, Kronstadt, and on the island of Gogland.

And in 2005, the International Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) installed a memorial plaque at the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University "LETI" in memory of the invention of radio by Popov. Thus, with international public recognition, the organization confirmed the priority of Alexander Stepanovich Popov in the invention of radio.

However, the question of who actually invented radio is still controversial. The main “competitor” of the Russian scientist is the Italian radio engineer and entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), who in 1896 received a patent for “improvement in the transmission of electrical impulses and signals and equipment for this.”

It was he, as well as the German engineer Karl Ferdinand Braun, who received the Nobel Prize in 1909, after Popov’s death, “for his work on the creation of a wireless telegraph.” Another contender for the title of inventor of radio is Nikola Tesla, a Serbian who moved to the United States for permanent residence.

The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources