SOME USES OF MATHEMATICS 125 



effect of light but would travel just as light waves 

 travel. 



In 1887 Hertz verified this prophecy of Maxwell 

 and announced the discovery of electromagnetic waves. 

 Hertz studied their properties or characteristics. He 

 showed how they could be produced, how they traveled 

 through the walls of buildings and were not affected 

 by obstacles which would completely obstruct the pas- 

 sage of light, and also how they could be detected, 

 since they do not affect the eyes as does light. 



In 1896 Marconi showed how these waves could be 

 utilized for telegraphy, by inventing an antenna from 

 which they might start out and by which they might 

 be received. 



It may look like a very long time between the three 

 steps taken by Maxwell, by Hertz, and by Marconi. 

 But one must remember that the problem which con- 

 fronted Hertz was that of producing some waves in 

 space which would travel like light although they were 

 not light and so could not be detected by the human 

 eye. Some instrument had to be devised which would 

 act toward these waves just as the eye does toward 

 light waves, that is, which would indicate their presence. 

 And, after what one thought would serve for an "eye" 

 had been made, how could one tell, if it did not work, 

 whether the fault was with the eye or with the apparatus 

 which was expected to produce the waves? 



It is interesting to note that the three steps were 

 taken by men whose interests and abilities in physics 

 were perhaps not so much different hi amount as in 

 kind. Maxwell was interested in developing a com- 

 plete theory, which naturally took a mathematical 



