Talk:Aleksandr Popov (physicist)

Comment by roser_69_3

¿alguien sabe algun lugar que pueda encontrar posters de alexander popov para comprarlos por internet? si lo sabeis enviarme un e-mail a la direccion: roser_69_3@hotmail.com gracias,un beso

Comment by Ostermana

I'm changing "was the first to publicly demonstrate transmission of radio waves (March 1896)" to "was one the first to publicly demonstrate transmission of radio waves (March 1896)" and removing all mention of a patent application. Nicola Tesla demonstrated wireless broadcasting of messages while in St. Louis in 1893, and Marconi is credited with demonstrating radio in 1895. --Ostermana 05:49, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Whoa! In 1893 there were no printed documents that would confirm "public demonstration of radio waves" by Tesla. What about depiction of his transmitter and receiver "designed in 1893"? Maybe, one could find something in American museums? Same for "demonstrating radio signals by Marconi in 1895". No any written sources. Popov's experiments were very-well depicted in journals and newspapers printed in 1895. His system of wireles telegraphy was used in rescue operation while Marconi was trying to send a letter "S" over Atlantic. Sea diver (talk) 13:12, 29 December 2007 (UTC) Sea diver

How in god's name.....

...can this article be a featured article?!?!?

The language is horrible. If I read this article aloud, it sounds... Russian! The word "a" should be used more often for example... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.140.2.129 (talk) 16:18, 7 May 2007 (UTC).

• Russan is not a horrible language. Correct this article, if something wrong as for you.

• In case anyone wondering what was this person from 2007 thinking, the 2007 variant of the article had some heavy Runglish style. Профессор кислых щей (talk) 09:35, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

Birthdate

List his birthday as January 13/December 31 1905/6 doesn't make sense. It seems like you're saying January 13, 1905 OR December 3, 1906... Changed it for clarification. Jg325 16:39, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

• This is from different calendar. See Gregorian calendar. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.63.249.200 (talk) 19:52, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

Marconi

Can somebody mention the trial with Marconi, which one has copied and claimed all inventions by Popov. I'm not expert enough to do that and my English is not the best. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.223.104.34 (talk) 15:57, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

The text on the postal stamp

I think the text on the stamp deserves a translation. It says: "Inventor of radio A. S. Popov". And at the bottom: "Demonstration of the first radio receiver, 1895. Painting by N. A. Sysoyev."

98.176.33.202 (talk) 03:58, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Popov's reputation

Fountains of Bryn Mawr, I think the notable fact that Popov (along with Marconi) is popularly credited in numerous sources 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 with building the first radio receiver needs to be in the article. Glad you caught the Landell de Moura reference. BTW, if de Moura didn't use radio waves, there are claims in Radio, Wireless telegraphy, Invention of radio, List of scientific priority disputes, and 1900 in Brazil that need to be removed. --Chetvorno^TALK 19:56, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

I noticed de Moura here, and yes, its a problem - the radio priority stuff seems to have been copied over and over again from article to article without much checking on the (not very good) sources. "Encyclopedia of Radio by Christopher H. Sterling" seems to show just an optical photophone in 1892–1893 and a much later photophone/herzian device in 1900. I was noticing the "Popov's receiver" section has a description of Popovs system and priority debates mixed together. Maybe these should be broken up, i.e. a separate or sub-section "Place in history" or "Priority debates". I think popular credit is already in the article and well covered. One minor point, if there is a popular conception or miss-conception about Popov then we need to cite a reliable source that covers it, not cite sources where it appears. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 20:43, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

A separate section for the priority debates and place in history would be good.--Chetvorno^TALK 00:35, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Re: removal of the crude drawing of the receiver

Fountains of Bryn Mawr, I left that in because it is actually his first receiver, as shown in Huurdman, p.207. It is the only PD picture I could find. The photo of the receiver with the chart recorder which you left in was not actually his first receiver - the caption lies. I think if we can't find a better one the drawing needs to be in there. --Chetvorno^TALK 22:02, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Actually I was following WP:IMAGE cleanup, 3 images of the same thing (a lightning detector) and text squeeze, two should go. I have swapped back the drawing and moved the chart version down. If another combo works without text squeeze please change it again. I see the commons category does not have those images, we need to add them there. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 23:36, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Looks good. Which commons category? I added the drawing to Category:Alexander Stepanovich Popov; is that what you meant? --Chetvorno^TALK 00:29, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

I wasn't seeing the images at Commons and found that the Commons box at the bottom of this article pointed to a sub-category "Alexander Stepanovich Popov" (with only 4 images). I changed it to "Category:Alexander Stepanovich Popov" and added a missed image, hope that fixed it. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 19:20, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

The term "radio receiver"

Fountains of Bryn Mawr, I think it is splitting hairs not to call this a "radio receiver" in the article. The introduction calls it that. It did, in fact, receive radio waves, producing an audible signal. Sources are unanimous that it was demonstrated receiving manmade radio signals on May 7, 1894; the only question is when it was used to receive communication, intelligent signals, Morse code. It obviously could have been used to receive Morse code at any time. Its construction as a permanent self-contained piece of equipment, its audio signalling ability, and its ability to produce a permanent record on a siphon recorder, set it apart from laboratory demonstrations of reception with galvanometers like Lodge's. It was almost identical to Marconi's receiver, which no one argues was not a redio receiver. Popov's statement in his paper, quoted in the article:

I can express my hope that my apparatus will be applied for signaling at great distances by electric vibrations of high frequency, as soon as there will be invented a more powerful generator of such vibrations.

shows that he was aware of its communications ability; the reason he developed it as a lightning detector is that he didn't believe spark-gap transmitters were capable of long distance communication. After Marconi demonstrated long distance communication in 1896 he developed it as a Morse code receiver and by March 1897 was communicating with ships at sea 1, 2. WP:RELIABLE SOURCES are divided on what they call it, but there are plenty 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7 that describe it as a radio receiver. Calling it a "lightning detector" is liable to confuse casual readers, implying that lighning noise was all it could receive.

Besides, modern lightning detector circuits 8, 9, are described as radio receivers. --Chetvorno^TALK 23:28, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

Descriptions found in a books on some other topic (like the ones cited above) tend to boil things down allot, calling this some sort of (predecessor?) to a radio communication system. If we move towards more reliable scholarly discourses on the history of radio, they have the more detailed description of this being a lightning detector with Popov demonstrating how the lightning detector would work.[1][2]. Per encyclopedic writing we should describe this instrument via its exact description. If there is some priority dispute, like a claim that this was also a "radio receiver" as part of a later first radio communication system, that goes in another section. I see no dispute in the description of this device as a "lightning detector" in any reliable sources. The priority disputes deal with events almost a year later, did Popov's March 24, 1896 transmission of "HEINRICH HERTZ" show priority over Marconi's June 2, 1896 patent and July demonstration (some description here[3])

The reason Popov developed a lightning detector was not that he was waiting for more powerful transmitters for long distance communication. At that point in time Popov was one of many physicists that concluded long distance communication was impossible using "Hertzian" (radio) waves. They applied Maxwell's equations and concluded theses new waves were simply another form of light, you could transmit them at someone line of sight (maybe through a wall), but if they were over a hill or over the horizon the new waves were useless (more here[4]). A lightning detector seems to have been the best use Popov could find for these short range waves. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 19:10, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Sounds like an attempt to diminish a historical work by clinging to the wording; so I'll try to play this game too.

• grabs an FM radio*

It's a receiver, not a transmitter, yet it's a "radio". In this sense, there is no mistake to refer to Alexander Popov as the inventor of a "radio". Профессор кислых щей (talk) 09:53, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

Its a receiver that Lodge already built, Popov just modified Lodge's desing for his own use. Hard to claim someone invented something they didn't invent. Fountains of Bryn Mawr (talk) 11:41, 27 March 2023 (UTC)

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